In the late '70s, a record label was born in London called Stiff Records. Among the prominent voices in the label were the prolific and pop-minded likes of Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and Wreckless Eric. What these artists had in common was a love for pop structure, albeit informed by the down-and-dirty ethos of the on-the-rise punk movement. Hooks were a paramount concern for them, even as they sardonically mocked the idea of fame and pleasing the masses. Wreckless Eric's "A Popsong" is a meta-commentary on the difficulty of writing follow-ups to earlier successes and the conformity inherent in producing a song that could end up a hit. He references his management calling him and saying that he "better write a pop record with a modern spin and hook; if the muse don't hit you, you're off our books."

Getting a song stuck in my head is one of the purest musical experiences I can have, in life. To have a song get its hooks in you is like communing with its author and performer. Currently, there aren't many bands in the Northwest as facile with crafting hooks as Trees and Timber. It's been a thrill to watch them rise through the ranks in Tacoma since their inception in 2011, with 2014 being one of their busiest years yet - seemingly constant gigging, with their debut LP getting two release shows this Saturday.

Like Lowe and Costello, Trees and Timber have a knack for writing perfect pop songs that don't just get by on production sheen. There's a tactile feel to Trees and Timber that lends weight to songs that are otherwise light as a feather. On their new LP, Hello, My Name is Love, their '70s AM pop-indebted songs skate by like long-lost favorites. The bouncy, piano-led opener of "Wolf & Sheep" is an ideal lead-in for an album full of music that sounds like it's been played for years, while simultaneously sounding fresh enough to stick in your brain for long after your first listen. It's not easy to record an album that feels like it's assembled entirely out of singles.

"Me and Joe (Baker) had been in a relationship for seven years," says bassist Gwen Lewandoski. "He was playing in a band that fizzled out, so I was playing bass, and we started writing songs together. ... We don't have any artists in mind, but I think we all pull from the same influences. We just love pop music from the '70s. We love the Who, we love the Beatles, we love the Kinks, and a lot of that British pop. Also, Harry Nilsson. We just want to write pop songs."

Harry Nilsson is a particular influence that comes across in the music of Trees and Timber. Nilsson's way of crafting pop songs in different voices that always ended up feeling like him is a factor that courses through Hello, My Name is Love. While there's a majority of songs that reference '70s Brit-pop, some songs verge into stranger territory, like the Modest Mouse-esque rural indie rock of "Electric Gypsie Lovechile." Meanwhile, "Believe in Soon" is the sort of blues-rock rave-up that would've fit quite comfortably in fellow Stiff Records signee Dave Edmunds.

What Trees and Timber have is a brittle sugar-pop that threatens at every moment to crackle. With every sweet hook comes the notion that the guitars will overtake everything and bring the hooks down into the gutter. This is what makes this dirty pop so exciting - building something beautiful and feigning to tear it down.

TREES AND TIMBER, w/ Bango Skank, No Body, Hey Lover, noon, Saturday, Dec. 20, Deadbeat Olympia, 226 N. Division St., Olympia, no cover, 360.943.0662

TREES AND TIMBER, w/ the Jilly Rizzo (release party), 9 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20, The Valley, 1206 Puyallup Ave, Tacoma, no cover, 253.248.4265