If the punk movement was about tearing down the bloated, cliched foundation of popular music, then post-punk was the beginning of the steady rebuilding process. Like all manner of nebulous music terms, post-punk has come to mean a variety of different things to different people. Bands grouped into the post-punk genre vary wildly in style and sound - U2, XTC, Joy Division and the Cure are all bands that have carried the post-punk label at one time or another, though it'd be difficult to find a more diverse cross-section.

But, if we were to return to the most direct definition of post-punk, Nervosas is likely the type of band that you would picture. A minimalist trio of guitar, bass and drums, Nervosas embody the sort of band that might rise out of punk's late '70s pop decimation. At their core, Nervosas play straightforward, no-fucking-around punk that's heavy on charging drums and breakneck guitars. But there's tentative experimentation at play, the way that those first post-punk bands were relearning what music can be, once all the bullshit was stripped away.

Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Nervosas have a complete lack of pretension about them. Made up of Mickey Mocnik on bass, Jeff Kleinman on guitar and Nick Schuld on drums, Nervosas are currently gigging their way across the frozen Midwest. Talking with them over the phone as they piled into a van headed for Fargo, they laughed off the very notion that there would be some story about how they formed.

"Here's a version of what happened," says Schuld. "Mickey sat down next to Jeff at her house, on the porch. And then later, they started playing music together. ..."

The van bursts into laughter before he could even get it out. What is there to know? Mickey and Jeff got together, they started playing music, and Nick came on later to man the drums. The end. Let's get to the music.

As evasive as the band can be when it comes to answering questions about themselves, the music of Nervosas does not mince words. Every song is as straightforward as a kick in the teeth. If I'm being honest, I don't often enjoy just listening to punk at home, by myself - it lacks the immediacy of seeing it live. But I had no trouble blazing through Nervosas' full-length, Descension. This is an album that doesn't give you one moment to catch your breath. While the tracks skate by beneath the two-minute mark, there's still a remarkable fullness and depth that sprints hand-in-hand with the relentless momentum, instead of fighting it.

"We've all been playing in punk bands for a while," says Mocnik. "We were influenced by a lot of the darker punk music, I think, because of the lyrics."

While the lyrics of Nervosas carry on the angsty tradition of a lot of those earlier post-punk, the darkness never becomes suffocating or strained, thanks in large part to the vibrance lent by the occasional combination of Kleinman and Mocnik's vocals - his shouted and wild, hers sweet and clear - as well as the unique tone of the guitar, which eschews fuzz in favor of an odd, ringing trill.

Nervosas are lacking in pretension, but that doesn't mean that there isn't some artier intentions at the heart of their music. Making loud punk to mosh to isn't the hardest thing in the world (by design), so my ears tend to prick up when someone brings something else to the table. I've listened to Descension on a loop, writing this, and it remains a compelling and bracing listen. If they can make me sit up and pay attention by way of chintzy headphones, their live shows have got to be combustible.

NERVOSAS, w/ Overboard, Cult Evaders, 6 p.m., Sunday, March 9, Bob's Java Jive, 2102 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, $5, 253.475.9843