The Village Green must have been surgeons in their past lives. This up-and-coming foursome extract the best sonic bits from loads of English groups (plus a few American ones), without suffering the injury of sounding like affected poseurs. Think prime Britpop minus the strident nationalism, the Kinks without the episodes of musical hall goofiness. That is the sound of the Portland quartet's eponymous, debut EP.

The six-song disc kicks off with "Let It Go," a succinct mix of distorted guitars and crashing symbols, with the swaggering, unaccented vocals of frontman J. Nicholas Allard smack-dab in the center of the mix. It's a little bit Stones, a little bit Stooges, and catchy as hell. This is an anthem in search of a youth movement.

The mid-tempo "Get Up, Get Out, Get High," with its juxtaposition of acoustic and electric guitars, and dreamy sing-along melody, shows a band from rainy climes banishing the dark clouds without resorting to obvious major-chord cheerleading of full-on, "sunny" power pop. "Under the Covers" trots along at a jaunty pace that recalls "Coffee and TV" by Blur, a comparison that is not lost on the group.

"We see eye-to-eye on the obvious stuff: the Beatles, the Kinks, Blur, and Supergrass," says Allard. But there are discrepancies, too. "My influences tend to be bands that write singles," he adds. The Village Green are off to a modest start, but as torchbearers for the Fab Four's high standards go, they make Oasis sound like a casino-bound oldies act.

kurt@thestranger.com