Considering she spent the spring grinding out a two-month tour of North America, you can forgive Courtneys drummer-singer Jen Twynn Payne if she wants to lie around the house for the next little while.

It’s after 2 in the afternoon on a bright summer day when the Straight catches her at home in her sleepwear, apparently taking the chanted mantra of the band’s jangling postpunk number “90210” (“Slow down/Chill out/Breathe in/Breathe out/Kick back/And have a rest”) to heart.

“I haven’t gotten dressed yet,” the Vancouver musician says with a chuckle over the phone, admitting quickly that her sleeping in until noon wasn’t owing to an all-out rager the night before. “I did not have a busy Friday, I just stayed up really late watching TV.”

The time off is earned, though, with the drummer and the rest of the group—guitarist Courtney Loove and bassist Sydney Koke—having recently endured their longest tour ever, supporting 2013’s well-received self-titled LP. Ramping up the intensity of the April-to-June outing was a series of dates opening for twin pop icons Tegan and Sara, who are also Payne’s cousins. Moving from small local shows at the Astoria and DIY venues like the Rainbow Connection to the theatre circuit proved to be a culture shock for the indie crew.

“The shows that we played on our own leg were what we were used to: a lot of bars and cool all-ages venues,” Payne explains. “The shows with Tegan and Sara [included] the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York to, like, 3,200 people. It was sold-out. I felt like such a brat. So many of their crew and their band were checking this off their list, waiting to play the Hammerstein all their lives. It was a big deal for them. It was a big deal for us too, but it was only our second show in New York.”

While the rising combo benefited from the opening slot in front of Tegan and Sara devotees, it has been building a dedicated following since forming in 2011.

Clocking in at 25 minutes, last year’s eight-song debut LP distills all of the Courtneys’ fun-loving, Flying Nun Records–inspired charms into a potent postpunk package. Driving the whole way through is Payne’s preferred four-on-the-floor beat, propelling Loove to unfurl beach-bound, open-chord optimism while Koke locks into hypnotic, melodic bass grooves. The carefree feel of the compositions is complemented by Payne’s lighthearted lyrics, which can poke fun at a greasy-haired ’90s heartthrob (“K.C. Reeves”) or chirrup about the constant flux of an on-again-off-again coupling (“Social Anxiety”).

In addition to the feel-good songbook, the outfit has maintained a playful online presence. This includes Instagram photos of accidental and endearing on-tour meet-ups with B-list celebrities like rockers Third Eye Blind and Nashville hunk Chris Carmack, as well as the act’s goofy, BuzzFeed-style personality questionnaire. The latter has apparently touched some of the faithful, one of whom gave the trio tribute T-shirts in New York.

“She had found these anime photos that looked like each of us, and then it said, ‘Which Courtney Are You?’ with a check box underneath,” Payne explained of a follower’s Etsy-like gift. “She made one for each of us with our appropriate box checked. I’m cute Courtney.”

With The Courtneys on local boutique imprint Hockey Dad already well into its third vinyl pressing of 1,000 copies, the unit now has its eyes fixed on a follow-up. Recording sessions have been taking place over at Gabriola studio the Noise Floor throughout the year, and the first track being teased is “Lost Boys”, a plucky pop-rock cut partly inspired by the ’80s vampire flick of the same name.

The song, which also appeared as a cassette single earlier this year, finds the Courtneys refining the sounds of their debut, with Payne’s inviting vocals saluting the never-ending good looks of her “vampire teenage boyfriend”.

“We’ve just gotten better at songwriting, but it sounds like us. We haven’t gone in a new direction,” Payne insists of the upcoming song cycle, which does not yet have an ETA but will also include a team-up with Vancouver rap absurdist Young Braised and tentatively titled tracks “Silver Velvet”, “Iron Deficiency”, and “Kate Bush X”. “I feel like only Canadians will understand that song,” Payne says with a laugh.

Since the album and a tour to support it are still a ways off, Payne is taking pleasure in her West Coast surroundings. When not taking root on the couch, for instance, she and Loove have been hitting the sand, happily chronicling their outdoor adventures on Instagram.

“Nowhere else is like this, it’s so isolated and magical,” Payne reflects on the city. “We tried to go to a beach every day. Every day that I swam in the ocean I was just so happy, washing away my posttour depression.”

The Courtneys play the Squamish Valley Music Festival next Friday (August 8).