Now that emo, as a musical genre and cultural phenomenon, has officially wept its way into the… Now that emo, as a musical genre and cultural phenomenon, has officially wept its way into the mainstream, who will protect its ancient rites and customs? While modern-rock radio stations and MTV finally have a place in their programming – and their hearts? – for whiney kids with broken hearts and three-chord guitar progressions to show off, it seems as though underground emo resembles itself less and less.

Maybe these kids just got bored with channeling Sunny Day Real Estate and Jawbreaker. Or maybe they just worked at their mundane jobs for long enough to afford nifty effects pedals and studio time.

Either way, intriguing aberrations are to be found under the radar. Now It’s Overhead, an Athens, Ga. quartet fronted by sound engineer/producer Andy LeMaster, is an example. They would sound like straight-ahead acoustic guitar rock if it weren’t for their penchant for digitally tweaked beats, bottom-of-the-well echoes and angelic dream-pop vocals.

LeMaster is indeed the songwriting mastermind behind Now It’s Overhead, but the group borrows the services of Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor of the indie-pop group Azure Ray, whose occasional vocal touches add texture to Lemaster’s nasal, melodic yelp. On their second full-length album, Fall Back Open, Now It’s Overhead offers a dense collection of dark pop/rock, in the vein of Galaxie 500 and R.E.M. In fact, Michael Stipe even drops in for a guest vocal spot on the album’s “Antidote.” Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, with whom LeMaster has worked on numerous records, also sings on one of Fall Back Open’s tracks.

It’s no coincidence, then, that LeMaster and company are touring with Statistics, a solo project of multi-instrumentalist Denver Dalley, member of Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes side-project, the Desaparecidos. Statistics’ debut record, Leave Your Name, released this past January, uses soft-spoken, ethereal, pop songwriting as its base and intersperses it with explosive distortions and experimental noodlings.

With Statistics and Now It’s Overhead, we see veterans of emotionally saturated rock doodle on their notebooks with a finer pen, creating musical images whose offerings in texture and detail supercede any umbrella genre that might entrap them.

Now It’s Overhead will perform at Club Cafe on Wednesday. For more information, call (412) 431-4950.