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San Diego's Pinback makes modestly propulsive, thoughtful, guitar-oriented rock that won't raise the hairs on your arms as much as it might get you thinking about that novel you told someone you'd write someday. Spare and clean percussion, bass lines as stealthy and warm as old sneakers, and uncluttered yet filigreed guitar notes impart a somewhat intellectual vibe. Making music together since 1998, multi-instrumentalists Zach Smith and Rob Crow have created their own musical language. It feels as fluent and natural as a babbling creek or a cooing baby. Strings dance lightly with fingerpicked guitars, snares interlock and skip with electronic beats, and Crow's vocals are the rudder, a mellow and steady guide leading the way. His delivery and the winsome, reticent vibe of "Sherman" have an emotional pull not unlike Death Cab for Cutie. More charged tunes, like "Proceed to Memory" and "Denslow, You Idiot!" swing and swagger like a well-behaved drunken sailor bent on finding one more beer before last call: a detour seems likely, but somehow the course is stayed.