The members of the Chicago quintet Ohvaur seem to thrive on alienation: With four members who migrated to the Windy City from warm and sunny Miami, plus one transplant from Wisconsin, they're not only strangers in a strange land, they're dedicated to turning to the formula of electronic pop inside-out, using the digital instruments for the main melodies and the acoustic instruments for the rhythm beds. (That is, laptop hooks over a real rhythm section, instead of guitars enhancing drum loops and digital bass.)

This twist would merely be a novel footnote if bandleader Timothy Den, who comes from the world of film scores and time in indie-rockers Kimone, and his bandmates Daniel Escauriza, Joel Hernandez, Mike Horick and Christian Loaiza weren't such good songwriters, creating lush, beautiful but occasionally unsettling vibes on songs such as "Not What This Century Wants" and "A Once and Future World Citizen."

Ohvaur's debut EP is streaming on the Web at www.myspace.com/ohvaur, and though the group doesn't have any gigs listed at the moment, I'm curious to see how they pull it off live.