Seattle’s Dreamsalon were assembled from parts of Evening Meetings, A Frames, Intelligence, Le Sang Song, and Factums, but its excellent new LP Soft Stab sounds like it was assembled in a high-quality punk factory somewhere down in SODO. In “Exit Specialist,” bassist Min Yee and drummer Matthew Ford’s rhythms chug along like a production line while guitarist Craig Chambers’ weird guitar scratches and squiggles zip around like the electronic impulses powering the machinery. And it’s some very efficient machinery. The kinetic energy from the bassline in the album’s eponymous track “Soft Stab” could probably generate enough electricity for an entire neighborhood.

The real strength in Dreamsalon’s power plant post-punk lies in those moments when its neat and tidy motorik propulsion busts open at the seams and the smokestacks suddenly bellow. “Animal,” which fires its pistons pretty hot from the get go, manages to hold steady until the engine completely blows at two and a half minutes in. And what a delightful explosion it is.

Cop the album in town at Wall of Sound and Sonic Boom, or order it online from Vancouver, BC record label Sweet Rot.