The British trio Friendly Fires took three years to create a follow-up to their eponymous 2008 debut, which perhaps explains why Pala, released this month, sounds so impeccably polished. Each son on the record, from the propulsive opener, “Live Those Days Tonight,” to the lustrous closer, “Helpless,” sounds as effervescently sleek and colorful as the bright parrot wings on the album’s cover. Pala also finds Friendly Fires incorporating ebullient tribal rhythms, in a similar way that Yeasayer did on last year’s Odd Blood. Those upbeat notes combined with the band’s frequent cheeky touches, as on the flight saga “Hawaiian Air,” in which frontman Ed Macfarlane sings, “Ache in my leg from a broken seat/Skipping the meal for a G&T,” make Pala loads of fun, and the ideal summer soundtrack. With Wise Blood. ERIN K. THOMPSON

Sun., June 5, 8 p.m., 2011