Dean Wareham comes across as a nostalgic kind of guy, which is understandable considering that after more than 20 years in the game he’s perhaps best known as the guy who built and then broke up Galaxie 500, one of the most loved 1980s indie bands.

With Black Postcards, a self-penned memoir set to hit shelves next month, and his current mod-homage collaborations with wife Britta Phillips, looking backward might be Wareham’s way of moving forward. His present project, Dean & Britta, has more to do with a camp ’60s aesthetic and sound than his own impressive discography.

“Britta and I do a Lee Hazlewood song, and now everyone thinks we’re just like Nancy [Sinatra] and Lee, and yes, okay, maybe on that one song, and yes, we are a couple, but that’s it,” he explains on the phone from a tour stop in Toronto. “There’s a danger that people can peg you.”

Drawing inspiration from the past isn’t a new thing for this New Zealander–cum–New Yorker, who slipped revamped cover songs like “Isn’t It a Pity” by George Harrison and “Listen, the Snow Is Falling” by Yoko Ono onto Galaxie 500 albums back when doing so was considered novel. Wareham admits he has always been a fan of playing other people’s music, for both personal and practical reasons.

“It’s in your blood. You have certain songs that you appreciate and you want to draw people’s attention to,” he says. “I also think that it’s a good way to make a record, to make half of it covers, because you can pick a bunch of really good songs and then you only have to write maybe six, and it’s a lot easier to write six good songs than 12 or 15 good songs. It takes some of the pressure off.”

On Dean & Britta’s quirky sophomore 2007 release, the aptly named Back Numbers, the cover-song selections are about as obscure as it gets. There’s the Donovan B-side “Teen Angel”, the little-known Hazlewood written-and-produced Ann-Margret single “You Turned My Head Around”, and “White Horses”, the theme from the ’60s British children’s television show of the same name. Add a few of the duo’s own syrupy love songs, which are sweet enough to make your teeth twang, and Back Numbers marks a new era for Wareham as a singer, songwriter, and cover-song connoisseur.

“I feel like my lyrics have gotten a lot better, but I work a lot harder on them now. When I was in Galaxie 500, I was just desperately trying to think of something to sing. It’s a struggle,” Wareham says. “Writing songs is hard. I mean, writing music is easy, but writing lyrics is difficult. At least it is for me, because I start with the melody and then try to cram words into it. Maybe I’m just doing it all backwards.”

Dean & Britta play Richard’s on Richards tonight (February 14).