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Arrica Rose and the . . .’s newest offering, Last Night on Earth, is a darkly fun, lightly melancholy bit of retro-modern alternative pop just five tracks long. With a breathy cry vaguely reminiscent of Cowboy Junkies’ Margot Timmins (maybe due to Arrica’s regular gargles with apple cider vinegar), Arrica Rose nibbles at the listener’s ear like the words from the opening cut, Turn: where “it turns me on. It turns me right. It turns me, turns me . . . inside out.”

The title alone of Occasionally the World’s an Unhappy Place (Plan Accordingly) gets the message across, backed by low-key electric guitar. Rid of You offers a touch of rockabilly roadhouse bop that starts seductively: “I used to love you with a flick of the wrist, with a toss of the head and a shift of the hips,” before flaunting a new-found woman-power: “Cause I’m rid of you like a snake shed its skin / Sending you on your way / with used to be’s and could’ve beens. / I don’t think I’ll remember your name.”

Wreck Me is a lyrical lesson in modern-American romance: “But if you hold me tonight like you intend to call me tomorrow / your words don’t have to be true. . . ,” while the final cut, Silence Is All We Need, reminds us with melodic finger-picking guitar that in addition to silence, we need patience and forgiveness, “But I’ve been so god-damn quiet that I can hardly see.” The song builds with swelling harmonies that drop off into a final stillness, leaving us to wonder whether her eyes were opened, or permanently closed.

Arrica wrote all of the tracks (co-writing Rid of You with Abby Kincaid), and co-produced the album with Jason Achilles Mezilis on his analogue 16-track tape machine in downtown L.A. With her band the Dot Dot Dots (who, according to her website bio were “formerly referred to by a name we won’t mention here”), Arrica has found a niche in the L.A. club circuit, including venues like The Mint and The Derby. If she keeps putting out music like this, she’s bound to find a much wider audience as well.