When something is polished for a long time, it gets smooth, and “smooth” and “polished” are surprisingly apt descriptives for the sounds of Single on their debut disc Welcome Nada. These four friends from San Francisco deliver a very clean, professional sound that belies their rookie status. Of course, they have played with a most impressive roster of bands: Matchbox Twenty, Train, Pete Yorn, Jimmy Eat World, Phantom Planet, American Hi-Fi, Posies, Fountains of Wayne, and Alex Chilton—and that has to count for something.

This gifted quartet arrives on the scene with a love of soft emotional pop that can be both tender and tough, and these nine songs prove they’re for real. The main creative force is lead vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Todd Herfindal, whose pleasant tenor delivers lyrics with phrasings that command attention, haunting and confident (and reminding me at times of the vocal poise displayed by the Dent’s Mitchell Linker).

Along with Herfindal (who produced most of the album with some help from Bernd Burgdorf) Single is comprised of Fraser Lunney on bass, Tommy Rickard on drums, and Howard Myint on additional guitars and vocals.

The big sound is evident right from the first track “When You’re Breaking”, a wonderful song about a guy resolved to get beyond the past, a broken relationship and all the reminders the world throws in his way: “I’m making my way past the places that remind me of the faces I used to know / Daydreams of times gone by rewind in my mind / The city lights hide the stars and my ghosts come out / You can’t live when you’re breaking / You can’t love when you’re faking / Nothing’s gonna bring me down”.

In a CD of impressive music, the standout track is “This is a Love Song”. This is a hook-laden hue-and-cry for a return to innocence in postmodern violent times: “It’s a killing time and we’ll never be the same / When revenge is a smoking gun and we all live under the sun / Yeah this is a love song / Don’t you think we need one? / Never been more awake, never been quite so alive”.

“Come Down Lovely” is a lovely call to action for one to liberate her ghosts, own up to her past and awaken from all that: “Come down lovely, let me drown in your defenses / Come down lovely, don’t you want to feel connected / Come down lovely, we can weigh the consequences / Losing every … hesitation”.

“Fall Down” is another well-arranged composition, with the singer troubled by what others say, regretting choices made, and how he’s fallen down into a merely ordinary world. While the lyrics of “The Moment to Start” seem to follow “Fall Down”, offering advice against listening to others and assuring that love can be counted on, the music seems just a little too similar in structure to the stronger “This Is A Love Song”.

“Start Again” ponders a chance to start over from some messed up point in the present, while “My Love” is a half-ballad/half-anthem about the cursed nightmare blessing of his love (“you can star in my carnival freak show, do you think your friends will understand?”).

“On Your Own” is a sweet melodic anthem about musical salvation (or is it?): “Just let the radio play songs of a better day / You’ll find that it’s wonderful to be on your own / Look down ‘til you believe it’s true”.

The one song that sounds a little different here (but is just as high quality, sound-wise) is the lone Howard Myint composition: “Universal.” Myint provides a slightly harder edge to his pop/rock than Herfindal, with a voice that reminds me a bit of John Faye (in fact, “Universal” might fit comfortably on an IKE album). It’s a nice contrast to the softer songs around it, with some silly rhyming to the lyrics about a “destined” relationship.

Welcome Nada is an impressive short-but-sweet debut from a group that seems to know its way around well-crafted softer pop/rock. There’s no reason why these catchy melodies with their lovely emotive vocals shouldn’t find their way onto television or film soundtracks or even, dare I say it, “top 40 radio” play lists. With melody and harmony poised to make a comeback any day now, Single may find itself on base at the right time.