With the title of their major-label debut and its first echoing guitar notes, Pell Mell align themselves with six-string ancestors like Duane Eddy and the Surfaris by adhering to the old Eddy credo "Have twangy guitar will travel."

Placing Pell Mell is harder than that, though – primarily because they're an instrumental band. Pell Mell turn the lack of a singer into both their defining characteristic and greatest strength. Like guitar granddaddy Link Wray, Pell Mell fill that void by experimenting, injecting their deceptively familiar melodies with tense, fizzy energy and tangential sounds and noises. They skirt the realms of retro and novelty, creating impressionistic guitar pop that evokes images and emotions as easily as if lyrics were leading the way.

Exactly which images and emotions Pell Mell will conjure for each listener is a different story, and it's one the band isn't telling. For every song that plays by the rules, like "Drift," with its soft, stately chords and surfy solo, or "Blacktop," which peels out like its title suggests it should, there's a tune like "Vegetable Kingdom." What do Pell Mell want listeners to get from that one? Given the title, the world may never know for sure, but the high-octane organ that highlights the song is certain to fuel some flights of imagination.

When pushing for dreamy, compelling moments, the band finds itself on the musical equivalent of a late-night drive on a long, straight stretch. On "Floating Gate" and "Butterfly Effect," Pell Mell get lazy and coast, making do with repetitive guitar and forcing weak synths to shoulder the overlarge burden of generating a mood. But it's a testament to their songwriting that even during such dips, Pell Mell still manage to sustain their momentum – and that makes Interstate smooth going almost all the way. (RS 711)

BARBARA DAVIES