The first time I heard of Tangerine, it was from Jeff Southard over at Swoon Records. Southard was glowing over his experience with a Seattle band that had just come over to his studio to record their debut EP, which they cranked out over two days. This, mind you, from a band that had only just formed in January of 2013, and that would go on to release another EP just months later.

Unfortunately, this level of ambition just isn't very common these days, with many talented and promising bands seemingly content to languish in local music scene stardom before inevitably disbanding. Tangerine not only possessed an admirable professional drive, but their debut EP, Pale Summer - in addition to its follow-up, Radical Blossom - revealed a thrilling new addition to the Pacific Northwest indie scene.

Combining angelic R&B-indebted vocals with muscular instrumentation and wistfully romantic lyrics, Tangerine sound like very little else on the market right now. Led by Marika Justad - along with drummer Miro Lion (Justad's sister), bassist Ryan Baker, and guitarist Toby Kuhn - Tangerine quickly began gaining traction and attention, aided as much by their strong live performances as by their pristine recorded songs.

Where did they come from, and how did they get so good in such a short amount of time?

"Miro, Toby and I were in a band in high school called the Sutures," says Justad. "We broke up for a while, just kind of did our own thing, and we got back together last summer, just kind of jamming casually. I met Ryan at UW, and we had our first show in January, just in the hallway of the Vera Project."

So, they had a history together, but in looking up the Sutures, I find a band with a very different sound than Tangerine.

"The Sutures was more inspired by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs," says Justad. "It had more of a garage rock vibe. ... It was a natural evolution. I think I started singing differently. I got more into R&B vocals, which really suit my voice better. In the past, I tried to scream and stuff, and it just wasn't really me. Miro, Toby and I, when we started out, we were just so in tune, so it wasn't really a conscious decision (to change our sound). We just started writing music like this, and Ryan fit in perfectly."

Near as I can tell, Tangerine are just naturals. What you see and hear is what you get. The music that they create is somehow so familiar and so inventive at the same time. Echoes of Fleetwood Mac mingle with dreamy acts like Beach House, and the insistent crunch of the guitars and the rhythm section call to mind '90s alternative bands, and it all blends together so effortlessly that it's like witnessing a magic trick.

Take for example their recent single, "Feel This Way." Woozy guitars open the song while Justad coos about walking with a lover on a hot summer night. Then come crisp drums and everything settles into a lovely groove as Justad sings the sort disarmingly straightforward love song that used to be banished in jaded indie music-land. And contained in this song are nods to the Caribbean flavor that invaded music of the '60s, angular guitar solos of the '90s, and Brandy-era radio R&B.

It's a deft balancing act, and it sums most of what makes Tangerine such a wonder. Their ode to a natural disaster, "Hanford Riviera," is another example of Tangerine at their finest - combining surfy, Pixies-esque guitars with a breezy, girl group-indebted chorus in a song about leaks at the Hanford nuclear site - and it got them plenty of attention, including a shout-out from Governor Inslee.

Tangerine show no signs of slowing down (Justad teases that they have something coming down the pike in the next couple months), and I wouldn't have it any other way.

TANGERINE, w/ J. Martin and Jake Loden, 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8, Anthem Coffee & Tea, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, no cover, 253.572.9705