The Kindness Kind played a brief, captivating set last Saturday at the pocket-sized Spike Hill in Williamsburg, as part of the week long CMJ Festival going on in venues and galleries throughout New York City.

The band, who has already built themselves a substantial reputation throughout their native Seattle area, drew heavily on material from their first two albums, 2007’s A Novel and last year’s self-titled follow-up. Both records feature dense, meticulously crafted work in the vein of fellow experimental pop entrepreneurs Blonde Redhead and Portishead. But where those bands have one foot firmly in the abstract side of things, The Kindness Kind prop their atmospheric arrangements within familiar pop formats, particularly on standout tracks like “On and Off Again” and the beautifully discordant single “The Lusk Letter”.

The bands’ trademark tactics – off-kilter guitars, druggy keyboard swells, stop-and-go percussion – lend an apt platform for the pointed, ethereal vocals of Allesandra Rose, who seems less bent on telling a story than conveying a general sense of uneasiness. Isolation, discordance, malaise –  all are recurring themes here, with little relent. The sound is never ugly, per se, but tracks like “New Sense” and “Houndstooth” work to create an uneasy, eerie atmosphere for the listener. This is less cocktail party than it is headphone music, though all the more rewarding for the focus it demands. The casual listener may or may not be interested, but this band is well worth checking out for those who appreciate intricate arrangements that simultaneously challenge and intrigue.