At this point in the long history of New Orleans music, it probably isn’t necessary to announce that your band isn’t “from” New Orleans as long as you wear your influences well. After all as Ernie K-Doe famously asserted, “I’m not sure, but I’m almost positive all music comes from New Orleans.”

The members of the Analog Bass Band, based in Bellingham, Washington, are clearly indebted to the music of the city. But they are also young people and their debut recording reflects a specific time and place. It opens with a field recording of protesters chanting “no justice, no peace” with an overdubbed sousaphone and drum groove.

Hip hop figures prominently in the band’s sound with guest MCs on several cuts as well as production values that move the music out of New Orleans and into more of a mainstream space. However, the self-awareness they demonstrate by including a “skit” about having a skit on the album indicates the musicians are not without humor despite the emotional subject matter.

By the seventh song, “Tax Day,” the protest rhetoric has given way to really compelling music. The cut is as adventurous as any brass tune I have heard since the days of Elvis Costello enlisting the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to bring life to his compositions on Spike.

With “Sockless” and “Castaways,” the next two cuts, the band’s songwriting prowess comes to the forefront. The gentle melodies belie some of the intensity of the earlier compositions and prove that as this group of musicians matures they will continue to have something important to say musically.

Thought the influences and instrumentation might read New Orleans, the Analog Brass Band’s debut album demonstrates they are on the continuum that began generations ago and refreshes each time the music grows and changes.