The history of Tacoma is one filled with unrealized dreams and plenty of disappointment. It's a history of grand visions, and usually not-so-grand realizations. It's a history of struggle, tastes of prosperity and silver linings. It's the history of an underdog.

Where Sails Meet Rails. Before it was a band in 2010 releasing a new LP - The Economics of Love - this week, it was an idea - a place. The port that could have been king, and the railroad hub that would have been. Grand visions and not-so-grand realizations. It was Tacoma.

But let us not tie, entirely, the place to the band. Sure, through music and perspective Where Sails Meet Rails personify Tacoma's emerging creative class as much as failed railroad bets sum up Tacoma's history of what could have been - and they did choose the name, after all - but lets dissect the art before placing this band in the perspective of place.

Clean and dirty. They play together in rock music almost as well as loud and soft, and Where Sails Meet Rails - through guitarists Christian Jordan and Jake Westhoff - rely on this. When I met the entire band for coffee at the Mandolin Café last week, they told me New Frontier Lounge owner Neil Harris - whose club has played host to the band on a number of occasions, and will do so again Friday - has made a habit out of calling the band "aggressive indie rock."

It's hard to deny this classification. The atmospheric tinkering of Westhoff's clean guitar paired with the power of Jordan's often fuzzed and crunchy axemanship - and the sonic dynamic this dance creates - gives Where Sails Meet Rails a sound worth building on - for the future.

Which is exactly what Where Sails Meet Rails - which also includes bassist Adam Zack and drummer Matt Staerk - is trying to do.

Just like Tacoma. Always.

"Our goal is to create music we would like to listen to," frontman Westhoff tells me, seeming comfortable speaking for the entire band. Throughout the interview, though others will occasionally chime in, it's Westhoff that seems to run the show and do most of the talking. This fact doesn't seem to bother anyone, and Westhoff certainly appears to fit the mold of a frontman.

"This really feels new and fresh to me, and I try to divorce myself from it as much as possible," adds Zack. "I've been in other bands that I wouldn't necessarily listen to if I wasn't involved. If I had the CD, I wouldn't put it in. I listen to this. It feels new."

Indeed, all of the members of Where Sails Meet Rails told me the same thing: in one way or another, they're all excited about the possibilities this band holds, and they've all been listening - somewhat constantly - to their forthcoming release, The Economics of Love EP. A short display of exuding musicianship and pop song sensibilities, the idea behind the disc - and the band for that matter, despite Where Sails Meet Rails' relative newcomer status - appears developed. They aim to push the envelope of pop based indie rock, if not charting new territory, then finding a new pair of musical binoculars to look at the sonic landscape through.

All the while, though - and most importantly - Where Sails Meet Rails aims to continue writing songs and records people want to listen to.

Not to mention lift Tacoma up in the process - not toward a "Destiny" filled with port money or railroad profits, but toward a future full of artistic and musical blossoming in T-Town.

"We want to elevate Tacoma," Westhoff tells me.

It's a nice sentiment, and a very Tacoma one at that.

Historically speaking.

[The New Frontier Lounge, Where Sails Meet Rails EP release with Colonies, Sordid Sentinels, 9 p.m., Cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]