Cellos have never sounded quite so badass as they do accompanying the wounded vocals of Anna Mascorella and Martina Grbac in the Denver-based art-punk quartet Matson Jones. Mascorella and Grbac sound like a couple of PJ Harvey disciples with a penchant for chamber pop a la Matt Pond PA, except angrier to the extent that Matson Jones boasts what seems to be the second biggest Goth following in the state of Colorado.

In addition to insistent cellos, an upright bass played by Matt Regan, and drums by Ross Harada, the band has girl-punk lyrics akin to the Donnas--if the Donnas had all been committed to the asylum. In the second song off Matson Jones’ self-titled full-length debut, the cryptically titled “N.E.S.F.T.O,” Mascorella and Grbac sing, “Daddy lock your girls up,” and follow that up with, “Mama lock your boys up,” as if their rampage will be all encompassing. Then they segue right into “A Bit of Arson Never Hurt Anyone,” where Matson Jones flippantly says, “I’ve got people to see / And places I’ve got to burn down.” Crazy never sounded so right.

The band’s name comes from a pseudonym that modernist painters Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg used when doing commercial work for department store windows in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Matson Jones comes out on June 7th on Sympathy for the Record Industry. For more Matson Jones info, click here