Pershing’s pop tunes both perplexing and intriguing

Pershing Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Sounds like: Ben Kweller, Office, Band of Horses Polyvinyl Records

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What do you do when your song is playing on a MasterCard commercial? If you’re in the band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, you have your mom videotape it and post it on your website. According to the band’s MySpace page, that’s what it did when its song “Anne Elephant” was in a commercial that aired during “American Idol.”

When its songs aren’t inspiring “American Idol” viewers to experience all the priceless and costly joys in life, they are inspiring listeners to take in their light and airy pop-rock – with or without the advertisements.

This four-piece from Missouri is signed to Polyvinyl Records, and is in good company with labelmates Hail Social, Matt Pond PA and Mates of State. SSLYBY was signed in 2006, but too much Internet hype held the band down at first.

Luckily, it has managed to overcome the curse of the buzz to release this mellow piece of indie pop greatness. The band’s sophomore album Pershing, offers listeners truly comforting, intriguing pop tunes.

One can only describe SSLYBY’s songs as annoyingly familiar, not in the sense that they are unoriginal, but in the sense that you will go insane trying to figure out where you’ve heard them before. Maybe it is the subtle harmonies in “Dead Right” that are reminiscent of Weezer or Office.

Maybe it is the horns in “Boring Fountain” and the fast talking in “Think I Wanna Die” that bring about comparisons to ska bands like The Hippos or The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Maybe it is the vocalist’s uncanny The Swimmers-like tone. Maybe you have heard this band before.

Whatever it is, SSLYBY sounds like everyone and no one, making the band’s music an enigmatic blend of music that is well worth listening to.

SSLYBY tests its Jeopardy-worthy knowledge of jobs ending in “-grapher” with “Oceanographer.” Lyrics list them all: map topographer, court stenographer, news photographer and oceanographer.

What saves this song from being completely random and strange is a style that revisits the sound of those ’90s bands you’ve heard in teen movies, plucked straight from college radio.

Although the song’s intentions are quite unclear, song lyrics have been based on less than something that sounds like a category on “Jeopardy.” Young B and D.J. Webstar’s “Chicken Noodle Soup,” anyone?

The band combines unlikely elements in “You Could Write a Book.” With its Police-like guitar riffs and Band of Horses-style vocals, SSLYBY continues to push the confines of the traditional indie-pop sound.

The band revisits a choice theme for any rock musician: love. You’d think people would get sick of it, but with SSLYBY’s skillful lyrics, who could deny the tortured souls?

The intellectual lovebirds mentioned in the lyrics determine their relationships in terms of novels, and it’s clear that communication is the issue. Lyrics say: “I’d love to read your book /First I think I need to learn how to read you.”

While the band’s musical equivalents are nearly impossible to nail down, listeners can rest assured that these guys are good. The musical chameleons of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin keep you guessing with every track with Perishing. Bands that sound like every band you love are destined to earn a spot in constant rotation on your iPod.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin perplexes like no other, this enigma of a band will continue to confound.

If nothing else, the band will draw some attention to the fact that someone still loves a Russian President. There you have it, SSLYBY: spreading the love, Russian political leaders and some pretty fantastic indie pop.