While their stage appearance may seem like a joke – a vaudevillian cross between Barnum & Bailey and an episode of Laugh In – one listen to their latest album, “Nobody Dances in This Town,” proves that the L.A.-based quintet takes making honest, soulful, fun music very seriously. A collection of retro-style psychedelic blues and alt-country folk narratives, real-life brother/sister duo Robert and Rachel Kolar lead their band of merry misfits on a trip leaving you with a sense of having heard something both extremely familiar and totally unique – at least for today’s music scene.

The album’s first track, “Tales that I Tell,” puts Rachel’s sultry, swinging vocals up front, anchored by the syrupy slide-guitar of Aaron Robinson. The first real heel-stomper hits on the fourth track, “The Same Old Ground,” a Rolling Stones-like country-rock ballad that is as catchy as any on the record. Next is “Slow It Down,” a bluesy jam, again with Rachel on lead vocals, and with a distinct Big Brother and the Holding Company feel that also extends to the album’s final track, “Can’t See the Stars.” The second half of the album kicks off with “Electric Love,” one of my personal favorites with a chorus that really showcases the powerfully unique harmony of Robert and Rachel’s voices together. Other highlights include “Touch the Lightening,” a psychedelic throwback fit for Lebowski-like acid flashbacks (think, “What Condition My Condition Is In”) and “Clackin’ Heels,” featuring Tap Dancing Drummer (yup, that’s her official title), Lauren Brown.

The fact is that this album, and this band for that matter, is creatively complex and yet deceptively simple. The songs are a mishmash of musical Americana, but, at their core, they are basic, catchy and unpretentious. If rock music is the town they’re talking about – the one where nobody dances anymore – it might just be because not enough bands make music like this anymore.