Great Waves is an awfully grandiose name for a young band - a band that, indeed, is young enough to compete in this year's EMP Sound Off! competition. Reflecting the grandiose name, Great Waves give titles to their songs like "The Moon and the Gutter" and "Konza Plains." In turn, the epic titles are reflected in the band's, truly, quite awe-inspiring music- songs that are as impossibly huge as the images the titles conjure up.

But I feel I should rephrase what I wrote earlier. The members of Great Waves are young, but the band itself is not.

This is an important distinction. However old the band members are (I didn't ask), they are at least three-year veterans of Great Waves. The band formed in high school after what seems like a bluff from bassist Paul Beeman, who claimed he could, "Play bass and sing real good - Chris Cornell style." Over time, the band's style has grown, with Great Waves ultimately finding footing with the inclusion of Ashley Bullock on lead vocals. It's Bullock's beautifully expressive voice that provides the backbone to the band's songs.

"We kind of started off wanting to be an indie pop band, and then kind of morphed into wanting to try being more experimental," says Bullock. "This last CD kind of ended up being folk, for some reason. It kind of comes and goes depending on what we're listening to."

The CD she refers to is Blue Blood, Great Waves' new EP. I can see what she means about the folky qualities of the record, but it's more complex than that. The band vacillates between picturesque folk ("The Moon and the Gutter") and darker, Radiohead-esque atmospherics ("Blue Blood," "Sea Legs").

In the end, the takeaway of Blue Blood is the astonishing professionalism displayed by Great Waves. The band has a real future - one that may be expedited by winning Sound Off! I wish them luck.

[The Den @ urbanXchange, Great Waves with Brooklyn Pool, Nextdoor Neighbors, Tom Ten, Thursday Feb. 18, 7 p.m., $5, 1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280]