“Take Me Back (to the Place)”/“Bad Advice” (Independent)

Love spending your Saturday nights miserable and alone in the dark, wearing black and listening to Morrissey while drinking Green Fairy Absinthe straight from the bottle? If so, you’re going to hate this Beekeeper 7-inch, which starts off with an infectious shout of “Whoa” and then veers wildly and more or less bright-eyed all over the musical map.

Side A’s “Take Me Back (to the Place)” has singer Devon Lougheed name-checking Commercial Drive, Main Street, and Pigeon Park, the frontman nimbly supported by multi-instrumentalist Luke Cyca and backup chanteuse Brandi Sidoryk. The first half of the track contains traces of sublime ska-punk and pastoral math-rock, the homestretch exploding into golden era of college rock territory. Double bonus points are earned for Sidoryk’s gorgeous background vocals, also used to winning effect on the more angular, indie-nation-indebted B-side “Bad Advice”. If this was 1993, no one would be surprised to hear that Beekeeper was fielding offers from Sub Pop. Which, you have to admit, would be a lot better than cueing up Joy Division while drunkenly contemplating hopping in an overflowing bathtub with a plugged-in television set.