The LA punk tradition is brevity. Weirdo Rippers jammed econo in honor of forebears like the Minutemen, and also managed to cover an incredible amount of ground with limited means. On first listen, “Eraser” sounds like Dean 'n' Randy decided to put one of their pretty, atmospheric songs (think “Escarpment”) underneath one of their melody-driven songs (“My Life's Alright without You”).

For this reason, I want to call “Eraser” a refinement of the ideas collected on their first LP. But the way the track, taken from the forthcoming Nouns, sets a queasy feedback loop against Randy's unusually choppy strumming before launching into the red feels urgent and pithy. Rather than building up their vocabulary, like adults have been taught to do, it's as if the duo opts to rearranging the morphemes into a guerilla punk pidgin, whose meanings are just a little out of grasp until they aren't. Forever young.

Nouns will be released May 6, on Sub Pop.