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Margot and the Nuclear So and So's perform "Vampires in Blue Dresses" on "Dust of Retreat"

You could feel the aftershocks coming along the post-Arcade Fire landscape. The feeding frenzy for labels scouring to find bands mining a sweeping and grandiose “long ago and far away” brand of experimental pop was going to happen, particularly after that Montreal art rock collective refused to sign with a major label. One of the obvious beneficiaries of that search is Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, who have been the early buzz of 2006, with their indie debut reissued by Artemis. The band’s implementation of orchestral touches over pop and rock might be nothing new, but the Indianapolis octet manages to move in fresh directions with strong songs and arrangements. It’s easy to see why a song like “Vampires in Blue Dresses,” a bopping little number that has singer Richard Andrews pining over a backdrop that sounds like a pocket Salvation Army band, would get noticed and earn the band comparisons to Arcade Fire. There’s more to Margot than that, though. “Quiet as a Mouse” is anything but, with a surging guitar chorus that spins into sporadic time changes and exquisite cello while the sexy blue verve and slinky, call-response guitar and vibes of “Barfight Revolution, Power Violence” add up to an undeniably atmospheric, funky bit of rock.

Margot and Nuclear So and So’s play with lauded UK pop artistes South plus Something for the Rockets at Showplace Theater, 1063 Grant St. (447-1271), on Sunday (April 9). Doors open at 7pm. $8.