Electric sextet

Electric Six is that band, the band with that one song — in this case, two — that sparks manic shrieking, projectile arm-raising and Jagger-proud dance moves from every person in the room.

For the past eight years, the sextet has been nothing more than its success with smash hits “Gay Bar,” which featured  pseudo Abe Lincolns cavorting around the White House, and “Danger! High Voltage.”

If you believed, after 2003, the band fell off the face of the earth into one-hit-wonder depths, you were right. Although it reportedly produced seven albums between then and now, its latest offering gets us excited.

“Heartbeats and Brainwaves” is pure homage to the electrifying eighties. The signature cracking lines and spacey riffs of the musical style permeate all 14 tracks. Raised and based in Detroit, the pop-rock-punk-disco-metal-garage band brings its unique brand of electro goodness to the table.

In line with its cover art, the album opens to eerie sound effects and pulsating beats. The track “French Bacon” is a grounded, gritty dance number that sounds like Matt Berninger of The National as he would’ve been in emo-punk, teenage years.

It is not until the middle of the album that we get a glimpse that maybe, just maybe, the band has matured in sound and lyrical depth. “Interchangeable Knife” contains an intelligent layering of synth tones. “Eye Contact” features pensive lyrics about a broken relationship: “we arrived here alone/And we left here together/Like birds of a cardinal feather.”

Only “Gridlock!” comes close to past recordings, with a bubblegum tune and frontman Dick Valentine’s absurd rhymes and diction.

Electric Six is a band that doesn’t take itself seriously. If you’re in the mood for polished, prankster hilarity, then this might be the album for you. But be warned — the group’s carefree attitude backfires at times — here, on its careless composition of the final, title track and resulting lack of cohesiveness of the album.

Then again, Electric Six is that band that, even with its faults, you can’t help but embrace.