Habibi

(Burger Records)

Beginning with a moniker that’s the nearest Arabic equivalent to “my baby,” what’s not to love about Habibi? The Brooklyn quartet melds Sixties girl-group yearnings with a beach rock backbeat and an air of wicked cool detachment, but it’s their surplus of well-chiseled hooks that seals the deal. No hiding behind a panoply of effects pedals or Spectorian grandiosity here. Frontwoman Rahill Jamalifard consistently delivers unadorned wordplay on young romantic gum-smackers like “I Got the Moves” and “Detroit Baby,” while guitarist Lenaya Lynch maximizes the contagion of these minimal pop gems with her less-is-more approach. Midway through, “She Comes Along” effectively mines fleeting shades of “Pale Blue Eyes” with its sparse, elegiac tone. The band’s underlying Middle Eastern atmospherics bob to the forefront to commingle with folk-tinged psychedelia on “Persepolis.” Then “Slin” raises goose bumps with a steamy depiction of driving, breathless intimacy. Top to bottom an action-packed debut. (12:30am, Hotel Vegas @ Volstead; Sun., Palm Door on Sixth, 8pm)

***.5

This article appears in March 14 • 2014.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.