For anyone out there who loved Rilo Kiley in those bygone days of “Papillon,” “The Rest Of My Life,” and “So Long,” boy do I have a band for you. Friday Mile’s new Love & Gasoline EP has so many shades of what I’ll now call “old-school Rilo Kiley,” that I think the best way to introduce them is just a flat out comparison. And I generally shy away from comparisons.

The main lead singer is Jace Krause, often accompanied by Hannah Williams for that dual-lead-singer thing that we love so much from Blake and Jenny. Even the dynamics and timbre of their voices have a similar relationship - Krause’s is a little bit whispery, a little bit twangy, and more versatile than he lets on, and Williams’ is honey-smooth, clear as a bell, entrancing. “Curtain Call” is the only song where Williams gets to sing solo, and it makes you wish there were many more songs with her on center stage.

The opening track, “Distance = Danger,” immediately grooves with a sharp electric guitar riff and an arresting melody. The lyrics, here and throughout the EP, are complex and catchy. With few words, much is said. On “Westward Bound”: “Let the neighbors try and stop you/ Let ‘em try and break your way/ Let ‘em listen to the soundtrack of your leaving on Independence Day.” Friday Mile is one of those bands that you can immediately tell is powered by people who really get their kicks from actual songwriting. Like Rilo Kiley, they have this incredible pop-ishness that manages to come across as genuine emotion, without receding into the bogs of self-pity or the lofty clouds of ironic distance. I think it’s often a quality of shared lead singers that they can keep each other in check in this way. Think Fleetwood Mac.

Why all this nostalgic sadness for Rilo Kiley? Well, without getting too much off topic, I just want to say that they really used to be very good. But Jenny Lewis began her solo career and I don’t think is able to really share the spotlight anymore. And Blake Sennett must have discovered, like his fans have, that the Elected is a much better band than Rilo Kiley could ever be. We’ll see what they can come up with. If the two are truly in love then maybe it could work, but you never can believe what the magazines say.

Anyways, back to Friday Mile and the EP’s title. “Battlescars” uses an abrasive, gross metaphor that truly gets the job done. Krause sings, “I’m choosing my battles and picking my scars/ to make battlescars out of beautymarks.” Now I can only think of one other lyric I’ve ever heard about scabs, and guess who wrote it - yes, that’s right, Blake Sennett, in “British Columbia,” off of the Elected’s first record, Me First. Friday Mile has a twist of that blunt morbid profundity, which they champion in their title, from the ending line of the same song: “With the right mix of love and gasoline you could torch this whole city.”

Friday Mile is currently providing the music for Broadway Bound’s production of High School Musical at the Moore Theater (through June 17). That’s cool! Also check them out at the High Dive on KEXP’s Audioasis on July 14 - Bastille Day.

Oh, and of course, please visit http://www.fridaymile.com/ to buy their music.