A lot has changed in the eight years since the Rentals last made a record. For one thing, MySpace and iTunes weren’t around, and downloads were pretty much just a pastime for basement-dwelling computer nerds. “The entire world changed around us,” says frontman Matt Sharp. “We realize that our songs will now end up in some form online before we even release them.”

The Rentals recorded the four-song EP The Last Little Life (which came out on Tuesday) over the past few months. Sharp — who co-founded Weezer and played bass on their first two albums — says he wanted to bring his other alt-pop group back into the game one step at a time. “I disconnected from the music world,” he says. “I took some time to reassess where the Rentals were, where we came from, and where we wanted to go.” A year after Weezer broke with 1994’s Blue Album, Sharp retreated to the studio with a group of friends (including That Dog’s Rachel Haden, the only returning member of the Rentals on Life). Their debut album, Return of the Rentals, pretty much cast the mold for all the synth-heavy, boy-girl indie-pop groups that surfaced during the past decade. A follow-up CD, 1999’s Seven More Minutes, stiffed. After spending most of the new millennium playing on other people’s records, Sharp says he’s committed to the Rentals again. A full album is due sometime next year. “The elements just came together,” he says. “We’re ready to take that journey.”
Thu., Aug. 16, 7 p.m.

This article appears in Aug 15-21, 2007.