For one brief and wonderful period in the early days of the Millennium, indie rock merged together with ’60s psychedelic and ’90s lo-fi to create a fearless and fresh sound that lived somewhere between synthpop, jangle pop, and dance punk. MGMT were certainly the standard bearers of the movement, but its territory stretched from Grizzly Bear to Animal Collective. Heck, even Battles flirted with it for a while.

Around this time, a group of local artists opened a space called LangLab: an old factory renovated to house artist studios, gallery space, and a performance arts venue. One of the early shows I saw there was the Bay Area act Maus Haus, who nailed this sound to a tee. I couldn’t afford a copy of the album they were touring at the time, but I happened upon it a local shop recently and had to have it.

And it’s just as fresh as I remember.Lark Marvels is as representative a snapshot of the mid-to-late ’00s synth-tinged indie scene as Congratulations or early Tame Impala. Moogs and Farfisas weave around spring-reverb-drenched guitar lines and lyrics that are more slogan than poetic (e.g., “We used technology, but technology let us down“). It shifts between dancy and eerie with a deft sense of irony that would make Hot Hot Heat proud.

As for my own part, I’ve spent plenty of time at LangLab, and have played several shows there myself. But that first Maus Haus show is lodged in my memory as one of the first moments where I felt like the music scene here in South Bend was blooming into a new era. And as someone who has spent much of my energy investing in my local creative community, that memory feels like an inauguration. It was the first fruits of the hard work other artists in town had down to grow something fertile here.