“I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar, then it meant that you were a protest singer.” Usually indie kids playing at folk makes me want to stick icepicks in my ears. But these two ex-garage rockers (their pedigree includes The Flying Dutchmen and The Intelligence among others) are still flying the flannel despite going (mostly) acoustic. Melancholic songs about ugly situations, desperate times, and occasional redemption are arranged around uncomplicated but interesting melodies, which, despite the acoustic guitars, maintain a sharp rock’n’roll edginess.