"I ain't got no soul," wails Rumble Strips frontman Charlie Waller to open the second song on the British quartet's six-song debut EP. Of course, he's wrong: Waller and the Strips have plenty of soul -- albeit a peculiarly British variety that owes more to Dexy's Midnight Runners and Adam Ant than it does to, say, Otis Redding or James Brown. The title track here pretty well lays out the Rumble Strips' equation, with punchy bursts of brass bouncing over driving acoustic guitar riffs and a snappy snare drum. Waller's an excitable vocalist who makes threats ("All I do is try and try to make you cry/I'll kick you in the shins, I'll poke you in the eye") sound like tempting invitations, and makes moody, mid-tempo mope-pop ("Oh Creole," "High St. Heaven") feel strangely energizing. There's really nothing here that's world-altering, but the Rumble Strips offer enough hints of good things to come to make it worth staying tuned in.

-- David Peisner