Once you get past the sophomoric band name (huh-huh, they said “wood”) and the junior-high-level double entendres — i.e., the tits references in “Take Off Your Clothes” — Morningwood is pretty darn irresistible.

The N.Y.C. group’s oft-delayed full-length debut whirls in a hormone-charged haze of fizzy new-wave cheerleading chants, punkish dance beats, and vocalist Chantal Claret’s little-girl-lost coos and snarls. Gil Norton’s production touch feels heavy (check the protruding bass lines and super-crunchy guitars on a few tunes, à la his famous clients, the Pixies), but a better touchstone on Morningwood is Le Tigre — had that band skipped current-events class to go smoke in the bathroom and make out behind the bleachers. “Nth Degree” — a Technicolor-keyboard explosion destined to pack dance floors — and the punchy “Jetsetter” particularly shine. The second half of the disc unfortunately can’t maintain this tireless energy, so consider Morningwood the equivalent of a hot-and-heavy smooching session at a party that doesn’t end in a walk of shame the next morning.

This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2006.