Fist City come from the foothills of southern Alberta and share their name with a Loretta Lynn song. Although, if their latest single on Vancouver/Victoria-based label La Ti Da Records, Buried/Cryptic Transmissions is anything to go by, you might not have guessed that at all.

The Lethbridge band has dealt in giddy post-punk stompers (their first LP, Hunting You, sounded to this reviewer a little bit like the B-52s and Wire comparing notes over grits and warm beer in someone’s living room), but a laid-back beach-and-surf vibe has washed over them as of late, and the Buried/Cryptic Transmissions split reflects this tendency.

“Buried” is practically built around its opening riff, a prototypical, Dick Dale-indebted vamp which plays peek-a-boo with lead singer Kier Griffith’s droll vocals. “Cryptic Transmissions” is angular and loping post-punk, and straightforward stuff (perhaps too straightforward).

At any rate, whether or not you think they’ve bitten off more than they could chew, it’s undeniable that Fist City and their ilk are making their town one that you’d best not detour around.