Kevin Bronson on August 17th, 2011

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The lean-and-mean indie rock on the first EP from L.A. trio Chop Love Carry Fire is deceptively straightforward – stabs and flicks of guitar, sturdy rhythms, biting vocals tinged with just enough angst, all courtesy of three guys who know what they’re doing and have the resumés to prove it. Singer-bassist Jeremy Toback (pictured) co-founded Brad with Stone Gossard; drummer Butch Norton has played with Eels, Lucinda Williams and a couple of Tracys, Bonham and Chapman; guitarist Billy Mohler has wielded his axe for Jimmy Chamberlin and Macy Gray, as well as having worked in a production capacity for myriad other artists. But it’s Toback’s sharp observations that put meat on the music’s bones. “When I want nothing / then I’ve got it all,” he says in the wizened single “Want Nothing,” and he wrestles further with narcissistic impulses on “Sinner”: “I’m a sinner/ ’cause I want it everything / Hey maybe I’m a winner / ’cause I’ve lost everything.” And the track “Didn’t Mean to Be American” is a wry snapshot of the world today by a guy who remembers well the world 15 years ago. The EP – recorded at (Elliott Smith’s old digs) New Monkey Studios – was made with Everest’s Joel Graves on guitar before Mohler joined up.

||| Download: “Want Nothing”

||| Live: Chop Love Carry Fire plays an early set tonight at Molly Malone’s, and also Aug. 31 at the Bootleg Theater.

||| Also: After the jump, check out director Danny Toback’s video for “Want Nothing”: