There are some people who work and work at perfecting a craft. As opposed to genre chameleons who tirelessly experiment with sounds and voices, these people find their sound early and competently, and work to refine it. They want to become experts at sounding like themselves. Somewhere around the edges of their music are these ragged frays that need to be razored off, with the ultimate goal of creating a smooth, honed surface.

For the past few years - and working from an unusually strong starting point - Ben Union has been working to hone his sound to a fine point. After emerging on the scene with a potent live show and an even more precise debut LP, The Light, Union and his band - drummer Jared Mira, bassist Seth Mira, guitarist Talon Carpenter and percussionist "Shazam" - have been working hard to take that certain special sound and reduce it to its most effective essence.

"I grew up in Churchland. I was a pastor's kid. I grew up playing in churches all over the United States. ... The first artist I was allowed to listen to - when my parents let me start listening to music other than Christian stuff - was Bill Withers, and my biggest influence in music is Sting and the Police," says Union. "Lots of personal frustration with my job and my life made me say, ‘I want to play music.' Since then, the band has taken shape."

In between recording The Light and his new EP, This Blessed Union Vol. 1, there was a shift in production with the band.

"About a year and a half ago, we met the Ott brothers, Jason and Joshua, from the bands Glimpse and the Joshua Cain Band," says Union. "They started Grit City Studios off of Pacific Avenue, and we started recording there. They've been producing us, and it's been a process of developing as a band, playing better together, getting coached by a producer who's had some success. ... Our songwriting has hopefully gotten better."

While the first album had more of a focus on the collision between rock and funk, This Blessed Union Vol. 1 is distinctly more pop-minded. Every song is clean and polished, ready for the radio. Union makes no bones about having high aspirations for getting his act out there in front of as big an audience as possible.

Last year, Ben Union opened the "Be the Spark" event held at the Tacoma Dome in honor of Bishop Desmond Tutu's last appearances in the United States.

"We were one of 700 who auditioned, I think, and we got the opening slot. It was 15,000 people in attendance. Every gig you play after that, I always say, feels like a downgrade. It tingled me. It tingled me from chode all the way up to my nose and back down to my toes," says Union with a laugh.

Anyone who competently combines the words "chode" and "Desmond Tutu" is fine by me.

Ben Union clearly has stars in his eyes as he looks to the future of this project, and it's hard to argue against that. As time goes on the sounds of Ben Union will only become crisper, and his live shows will only come closer to fully embodying the word "concert." Time will tell just how far he goes, but what's clear now is he's going for it.

Ben Union

with Hot Bodies in Motion, the Silent Comedy
Saturday, Jan. 28, 8 p.m., $8 advance, $10 DOS
Louie G's, 5219 Pacific Highway E., Fife
253.926.9700