Let's just get this out of the way right off the bat—Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are a very very very good band. When we wrote about them last February on the heels of a way-too-short performance at Sneaky Dee's, we ran through the band's history with drummer Philip Dickey, and gushed that they "have a knack for hooks, likeable melodies, and a kind of rough, untidy rock and roll sound that is always bordering on pop." (It's true! They do!) One year later, we have two more reasons to gush: first, there's Pershing, the band's fantastic new album just released on Polyvinyl Records that's full of more sunny, hook-filled, and catchy maybe-it's-rock-or-maybe-it's-pop goodness; and second, the Springfield, Missouri band is finally back in Toronto again this Friday night, with a midnight headlining set at the El Mocambo.

While Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's fanbase is modest, it's largely the result of a lack of awareness about their existence rather than any apathy about their sound. If you're in the former camp, take three minutes off of whatever you're doing—you seriously won't regret it—and go watch this promo video on YouTube for Pershing. The band may not have reinvented the wheel yet, but they've gotten damn close to perfecting it.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin play the El Mocambo on Friday, April 18 with openers Via Audio. Tickets are $9, and doors open at 9. Pershing is available in stores now. Photo by Aaron Scott, courtesy of the band.