I discovered Lena Lou purely by chance, a pleasant find in Century Square when I was out simply enjoying the day with my camera. Led by guitarist and songwriter Tasha Spizelli, Lena Lou's brand of post-rock is not something you'd expect to hear in downtown Seattle on a Sunday - especially on May Day. As I was to learn, the dichotomy is very Lena Lou.

They only have one record out now, the self-explanatory The Live EP, featuring six tracks (five actual songs and a little hidden gem at the end), but there's enough on here to promise much more. Perhaps the live nature of the music is part of the design; there's no studio trickery here, and neither does there need to be. Just guitar, drums and bass, no overdubs, nothing flashy or fancy. All in one take, it's as live and real as you can get.

There are no vocals, either. Lena Lou is strictly instrumental, and this benefits the music in so many ways. No pesky words to distract us from the gorgeous tones of Spizelli's guitar, whether delicately plucking strings or effortlessly switching to a crunching seven-string distortion attack. Without vocals, the music is free to roam and establish its own identity.

If you force me to find issue with the album, it's that all the tracks have the same blueprint - a slow, melodic start gives way to a raging, powerful section, before resolving with the same movement that started the song. Maybe lyrics and vocals would help demarcate song structures better, but Lena Lou's music doesn't need clearly defined stops and starts; this is flowing, stream-of-consciousness stuff that takes you on a myriad trip in just one listen. Ultimately, it makes remembering individual songs slightly tricky, but it strengthens the album on a whole, and that's not a bad compromise.

Either way you look at it, it's futile to fault the formula, considering how well it works, and how Spizelli and the band execute it to perfection. When the mood is mellow and the tones ring out as clear as windchimes, your mind wanders into new places, new soundscapes; when the distortion kicks in, like waves suddenly crashing on rocks, it's not so much as a switch as it is a logical progression to what came before it.

The highlights are "Seven Year" and the seven-minute "La Fiesta". Structurally, they may be the same, but Spizelli's undeniable guitar chops make each song its own imaginative journey. This isn't just your typical soft/loud dynamic; this is intelligent, thoughtful music. I point to those two tracks as the highlights, but every song on The Live EP offers something new and interesting.

Even the bootleg-quality of the EP helps; instead of a sterilized and clinical sound, what we get is something much more natural and organic (well, this is Seattle, after all), more visceral than cerebral. And really, I don't think Lena Lou would have it any other way.

5.0/5.0: Music this engaging and unique is hard to find, but Lena Lou have nailed it perfectly on The Live EP.