Yes, there’s nudity on the cover of Blush, the debut EP from Wolf Alice. Let’s just get that outta the way. But it’s not a gimmick to sell records, I promise. A closer look reveals a girl who appears uncomfortable, looking stiff and wooden in pose. (Also, notice that her face isn’t in view.) It’s actually…quirky.

Which is perhaps the most apt description of the up-and-coming quartet from London. Their sound is more informed by Pixies and Wire than modern indie rock. Their drummer, Joel Amey, has only been playing for a year and admits that he “suck at drums.” And their vocalist Ellie Rowsell displays a confident uncertainty, both in her performances and lyrics. Blush, for example, opens with, “Curse the things that made me sad for so long/Yeah, it hurts to think that they can still go on/I’m happy now/Are you happy now?” Even as she says she’s happy, you wonder who she’s trying to convince. Add to that the uneasy marriage between the opening guitar twinkles and the shoegaze fuzz that follows, and you have smartly executed optimistic tension.

There’s apprehension all over these four songs, actually. ‘She’ opens by channeling a bit of surf rock over twitchy guitars before soaring into a grunge-y chorus. Yet, the bridge finds the music largely dropping out while Rowsell coos, “I had a lover, I had a friend/But don’t deliver nothing for them/You’re having fevers and bad dreams /I’m having neither, just let ‘em breathe.” Sometimes, though, Rowsell aims her casual cyncism at herself: “Look at you, you’re all grown up/Don’t look at me ‘cause I gave up.”

That line comes from EP closer “90 Mile Beach”, the closest Wolf Alice comes to reaching for an arena-ready sound. It opens in earnest, acoustic guitar contemplatively strummed. Slowly, the song builds: swirling guitar turns to whitewash midway through as the song awkwardly plods forward, seemingly unsure of itself; then, as if being startled awake, the rhythm section begins a gallop that’s followed by U2-esque guitar chime screaming for attention. And just as its reaching its true climax, the music drops out in favor of the sombre chords that opened the song. It’s almost as if Wolf Alice leave you wanting more on purpose.