There was an Olympia-based emo-bending indie punk band in the early '90s called Lync. After sporadic recordings on K Records, and only one full-length release, Lync disbanded, leaving frontman Sam Jayne to find another project to pour his burgeoning talent into.

Jayne's new solo project, Love As Laughter, emerged in 1996 with a debut LP, The Greks Bring Gifts. Eschewing the lo-fi thud of his earlier work, and bringing the sweet melodies closer to the surface, Jayne's latest incarnation brought him further into the emerging zeitgeist of underground American indie rock. Soon, other members would join Love As Laughter, and the textures and tangents of the band would grow more complex and compelling.

Their 1999 Sub Pop debut was intriguing enough, but it was their 2001 follow-up, Sea to Shining Sea, that established them as an overlooked but important band in the increasingly flourishing culture of indie rock. Shining Sea saw Jayne embracing more hard-edged compositions, while still imbuing the rockers with funk and flair lurking in the background. "Miss Direction," though, foreshadows the direction Love As Laughter would eventually take, with its Rolling Stones-indebted drunken folk-rock.

Returning with an album after a four-year hiatus, the makeup of the popular indie rock had changed, with the rise of the Shins and the move of Modest Mouse from underground weirdos to chart-topping alt-pop auteurs. 2005's Laughter's Fifth proved to be Jayne's last album for Sub Pop, but the sound of that record was easily their most accessible to date, featuring sleepy pop ruminations that called to mind the elegant wistfulness of the Shins as well as the shaggy, twisted Americana of groups like Silver Jews and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.

All the while, Jayne and Love As Laughter remained uncompromising in their evolution. Moving to Brooklyn from Olympia, Jayne kept a rotating cast of characters moving through Love As Laughter, lending their melange of sound and influences to the proceedings. Unpredictability became their brand, while the sturdy backbone of Jayne as bandleader ensured that the songwriting would remain compelling, if nothing else, no matter what direction the band headed in.

Holy, their one and only album for Epic, suffered from its release in the no man's land of 2008 - a time when alternative music was shedding giants and the old guard, while embracing new and revived sounds. Love As Laughter's solid indie and classic rock-leaning tendencies didn't fit as well in this musical climate, despite Jayne's increasing emphasis on politically charged lyrics and spiteful vocals, which did fit into the larger conversation of music at the time.

Since Holy, Love As Laughter have left these larger labels, recently finding a home with Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace. Brock has along been a noted fan of Love As Laughter and Lync since before Modest Mouse released their debut. The pairing is apt, if not quite expected. While Jayne sometimes dips into some of the mad preacher vibe that Brock has so perfected, Jayne has always been more devoted to crafting tightly assembled songs that pay homage to the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and other bombastic innovators.

In 2012, Love As Laughter released a new EP: Greks II: Slight Return, a nod to their debut record, released over 15 years ago. Greks II finds Love As Laughter back on their muddy lo-fi kick, with the added twist of psychedelic folk. They sound revitalized. They sound like young guys gleefully cutting a record in their friend's basement. It's a welcome change in tone from their big label efforts, as great as those were.

Love As Laughter are gazing back at their roots without sacrificing the forward momentum that's carried them as far as it has.

LOVE AS LAUGHTER, w/ Braindrain, Spaceneedles and Happy Noose, 8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 5, Northern, 414 ½ Legion Way, Olympia, $6