Band’s album blooms

By some histories, indie rock started with an Australian group called The Go-Betweens in the late 1970s. Expatriate

In The Midst of This

Rocks Like: Franz Ferdinand, Arcade Fire, MGMT

Grade: B

By some histories, indie rock started with an Australian group called The Go-Betweens in the late 1970s.

Today, the members of Expatriate — a Sydney-based group centered around singer-guitarist Ben King — continue that Australian indie-rock tradition. After two EPs and an Australian release in 2007, they’ve brought In The Midst of This to North America.

The sound is familiar with clever guitar lines, pounding drums and introspective lyrics. The leading track, “Get Out, Give In,” escalates like the best of the Canadian band Arcade Fire as King delivers the line “intro to life / exit to death” with an understated warble.

Damian Press’ keyboard is one of the most distinctive features on the album, with tracks like “Play A Part” built upon the keyboard’s charismatically synthesized flute.

Later in the album the group seems to play more with its dynamics and tracks like “Deadman” use these changes to great effect. Channeling the psychadelia of the American group MGMT, it breaks from the established “sound” it has on most of the album and — to put it frankly — plays differently. “Blackbird” experiments with drones and the final track “Are You Awake” could be an outtake from the British band New Order.

Although there are some rough patches early on — where the band doesn’t seem to find a strong individual voice — the later tracks flower into a pretty darn good album by Australia, and anyone else’s, indie-rock standards.