Kevin Bronson on August 26th, 2010

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The Little Ones have been laying low, dealing with what singer-guitarist Ed Reyes refers to as “trials and tribulations.” But although recently separated from their second label, Chop Shop (which released their debut “Morning Tide” in 2008), the L.A. quintet continues continues to churn out its sunny pop. They are announcing the first installment of their “Endless Summer Series,” a string of EPs on their own Branches Recordings imprint that Reyes hopes will one day add up to an album. “At this point,” Reyes says, “it’s kind of cool almost empowering ourselves to do things without a label.”

The first includes a new song, “Argonauts,” an unreleased track from the “Morning Tide” sessions called “Waitin’ for a Sign” and an excellent remix by DJ Nobody of the album track “Farm Song.” The five-piece, continuing to record with producer David Newton and now featuring Division Day’s Kevin Lenhart on drums, will be giving away limited-edition copies of the EP at Friday’s show to fans who get the password from the band’s Twitter feed (twitter.com/thelittleones). This new song sounds tropical – no surprise there, since many of us still think that the Little Ones sounded like Vampire Weekend before the New Yorkers had even drawn blood.

||| Download: “Argonauts” and stream the rest here.

||| Live: The Little Ones perform Friday night at Club Underground at the Echo.