Sick and inspired

Boston band sets ‘truth’ in Motion

PROFILE. “Maybe this is getting too esoteric and complicated but…”

Mike Epstein trails off. The singer/guitarist for The Motion Sick is calling from his office at Northeastern, where he teaches audiology. Those hearing tests you took in grade school — part of his job is training the folks who ask you to raise your hand to the beep.

His band, though, creates a more pristine racket, one that has also taken a slightly esoteric and complicated tack.

With their second record, “The truth will catch you, just wait…,” the Boston foursome build on their stellar, Neutral Milk Hotel-owed debut, pumping out more precious pop fare, while extending their reach into weirder waters.

“The first record had a lot of love songs, unrequited stuff, and this one is more abstract in places,” explains Epstein. “When I was going through the process of picking songs for the first one, we were a little more narrow in what we selected.” For “The truth,” he says he allowed his earlier influences — his college bands focused on punk and goth, respectively — to poke through.

The lead-off track, “Jean-Paul,” penned by Epstein’s wife Sophia Cacciola, is a  spaghetti western-lassoed romp about French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat, while “30 Lives” is a playful bounce that unveils the cheat code for the video game “Contra.”

The album’s tentpole track is “The Owls Are Not What They Seem,” which surfaced, following years of recommendations by friends, after taking in “Twin Peaks.”

“It was so deeply disturbing,” says Epstein. “The brilliance of it is that the show can go, moment to moment, from hilarious satire of a small town to really unsettling psychological weirdness.”

David Lynch’s approach to twisting different tones and moods into the short-lived series resonated with Epstein.

“[It] ties back to making a record,” he says. “When you’re recording, lots of different things are incorporated in a meaningful way, so it doesn’t seem like a mixtape of random songs. … We had a fear that, when the record was done it would make for a confusing listening experience. We didn’t want to give the listener whiplash, but we think it works out.”

The Motion Sick
Tonight, 9
Church
69 Kilmarnock St., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Fenway
Free, 21+, 617-236-7600
www.churchofboston.com