Should be a stonerrific good time at the Pacific Science Center Laser Dome this evening as Tacoma psych-soulsters Mono in VCF host a listening party for their self-titled debut.

The songs on the band’s MySpace reveal a whole lot of potential, and I’m anxious to hear the rest of the album. The music is expansive psychedelic pop, burnished with Mellotron-ed strings, big drums, and a Grand Canyon’s worth of reverb. It’s very much in a Lee Hazelwood/Phil Spector vein, as noir as the night, which is why the band brought singer Kim Miller on-board. Miller’s voice is so, so close to being a knockout that the tiny degree to which she falls short becomes glaring. With music as cavernous as Mono in VCF, the vocals have to be equally massive, and though Miller’s got a sensuous purr, there’s not enough there there. At least in my headphones—maybe blown up in the Laser Dome that voice will fill the room. The stuff is still crazy hypnotic in a near-Portishead kinda way.

BTW, Mono in VCF won that contest sponsored by Jarvis Cocker to open for his Seattle show this past spring. So there you go—a band for the common people.

The listening party costs $5 and starts at 8 pm, with a pre-party at the EMP starting at 6. All paid entries receive a voucher to download the album free from the band’s website. The afterparty is at—where else?—Hazelwood.