Sun., April 07, Social Studies

I'm not sure what it says about the abundance of digitized pop these days that my first thought about Social Studies' sophomore album Developer was: “This is strangely reserved.” I suppose it's because it utilizes a lot of synth while remaining refreshingly devoid of dubstep. Imagine “Maps”-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs sedated on painkillers along with a few nods to Metric's Emily Haines, and that's the general domain of San Francisco-based Social Studies. I can personally vouch that “Terracur,” with its hypnotic beat and coy vocals, is good for quality wine-drinking-alone time, but it's bound to be a crowd-pleaser live, too. 129 E Street, Suite E in Davis; www.socialstudies-music.com.