Monday night was a whir of buzzing guitars and waves of noise thanks to the likes of local band Fjord Rowboat, New York fractured dance-rockers Enon, and the Octopus Project, a sometimes-trio-sometimes-quartet from Austin, Texas whose place in the musical universe resides somewhere in the triangle defined by shoegazer, electronic pop and freeform, Godspeed-esque post-rock.

Not having heard of the Octopus Project before last week, the hook I latched onto early one was Yvonne Lambert’s theremin, an instrument that rarely sees a whole lot of use on tour unless you count Alison Goldfrapp abusing her portable theremin while wearing a horse’s tail and a top hat. Or something along those lines. In the absence of vocals, Lambert’s mostly electronic contributions—in addition to the theremin, she also plays keyboards and glockenspiel—serve as the voice while the rest of the band serves as a foundation built out of hard-charging guitars and propulsive drums.

The Octopus Project are a tale of two bands: on stage, the emphasis is on exaggerating and embellishing the crescendos like so many waves crashing into the audience. They put on a lively performance that was just as much a joy to watch as it was to listen. Hello, Avalanche, the band’s latest album, seems the work of a different band; usually artists turn up the volume for the live show, but few to the extent apparent here. Hello, Avalanche plays up subtleties and nuances that get lost live, preferring the intimacy of details over the euphoria of grandeur.

It’s a disc that rarely overwhelms you with sound, and because there are few vocals (relegated to the last track on the album) and even fewer traditional pop structures (there’s that post-rock thing again), Hello, Avalanche doesn’t grab your attention as forcefully as the band does on stage. But the album grows on you quickly, its more gentle charms equally as enticing as the Octopus Project’s live set. If you get the chance to check out either, chances are you won’t be disappointed.