Just in time for our carefree summer soundtracks of 2010, Denver, Colorado band Kissing Party has arrived to infuse our sunny days with coy refrains and enough jingle jangles for a sunset beach dance party. Dissecting an indie-pop library stocked with the likes of Strawberry Whiplash and Black Tambourine, Kissing Party encourage even the wallflowers amongst us to take to the dance floor, or at least give us a reason to drink up.

The band fuse Belle and Sebastian understated acumen with Darling Buds beguiling charms while carving out their own niche with upbeat songs laced with ambition and bittersweet sentimentality. It’s an easy task to bestow the Murdoch crown on them. The band themselves tip their hats to the the gods of Lazy Line Painter Jane with the album art design of their latest, The Hate Album.  The title signaling not only their own Pains of Being Pure At Heart leanings, but also the wry humor we love most in our  songsmiths.

Notes from The Primitives swirl in with commanding girl vocals and relentless splashes jangle happiness of  “The Heart Of It All” and “King Graves Rd.” From there Kissing Party plunges us into the loneliness of love in “Donna Joy” and “Lets Face These Times,” wavering with fuzz and longing backdrops of infectious ohs and ahs.

All is not always fair and kind in the world of the Kissing Party. I’m just thankful that they’ve used their broken heart lessons to our advantage.