The Nick Luca Trio

Listening to Little Town, the 2002 debut CD of this Tucson, Ariz.-based trio, is like lying on your back on a slightly windy day, watching clouds lazily trace their way across the sky. Think the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers” or Pink Floyd’s “San Tropez” at half-speed, retooled into the kind of post-lounge indie-cinema-soundtrack rock that relies much on atmosphere and texture to put its slow-moving point across. Luca works as an engineer at Wavelab, a Tucson studio where Giant Sand (whose Howe Gelb appears here), Calexico and other like-minded acts have recorded, which may account for the spacey, desert-friendly ambience. At its core are Luca’s gently billowing tunes, given an herbal finessing that’s closer to John Lurie, Martin Denny and Astor Piazzolla than it is to the Sons of the Pioneers.