Fast Piece of Furniture

Jeff Nelson likes to sit down. That’s a natural position for a drummer, sure, but it’s also the only theory that explains why the former member of the High Back Chairs is now drumming for Toledo, Ohio’s Fast Piece of Furniture. Or maybe it’s just that he likes singer and guitarist Tony Lowe’s dusky voice and jangly songs, which coaxed the D.C. legend out of retirement. Adventures in Contentment, the group’s debut, doesn’t confine itself to the living room, touching on garage rock (“Can I Believe in You?”), bedroom psychedelia (“Miles From Nowhere”), and chamber pop (“Out of Time”). Underpinning it all is an appealing sense of wide-eyed melancholy and optimism despite all evidence to the contrary. Lowe’s tales of relationships that have gone wrong, are going wrong, or almost certainly will implode if you give him half a chance can get a little claustrophobic, but his band’s gentle power pop sure sits easy. Fast Piece of Furniture performs with Everyone But Pete and cobbler at 9:30 p.m. at Iota Club & Cafe, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. $10. (703) 522-8340.