You have your local bands that hang out and make the scene, cultivate the self-appointed tastemakers and become local darlings. And then you have bands that just make striking and unusual music outside any defined scene and set about diligently to get the music heard in as many places as possible. That would describe Mr. Gnome, which officially releases its first full-length CD, Deliver This Creature, on its own label, El Marko records, this weekend.

Like its two EPs, 2005's Echoes on the Ground and a self-titled 2006 release, the Kent-area duo has released in its nearly four years together, the 10-track Creature is hard to pigeonhole, combining the dreamy and the angular in ways that defy the typical loud-soft oppositions of post-Nirvana grunge, emo or nu-metal. Drummer Sam Meister and singer-guitarist Nicole Barille have created a sound that draws on all that and more. While the title track rocks and races into becalmed ambient pools, on other tracks like "Night of the Cricket," Barille affects a deceptively girlie voice set against an instrumental backdrop that alternately bristles with a buzz of sounds and empties to let her voice stand naked. At points, the clangy guitar seems to be generating a cloud of undertones and overtones. Throughout, Barille sings her disjunctive lyrics with a coiled, quivering manner that's slightly reminiscent of PJ Harvey.

Deliver This Creature emerged from a major dislocation for the band. Last year, they hooked up with a booking agent and, in July 2007, traded regional weekend gigging for six straight months of touring cross-country.

"We just wanted to tour a lot and play nonstop," says Barille. "We wanted a different source of inspiration even; we wanted to leave our lives for a minute. So we threw our stuff in storage and packed up our van."

The disc was a product of that wanderlust. Recorded in Portland, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona, as well as Cleveland's Ante Up Audio, and mixed in Madison, Wisconsin, it was mostly written on the road too.

"Our booker's wife is a radio personality in Tucson and a musician," says Barille. "She's friends with Larry Rivers who owns Jackpot Studios in Portland and Craig Schumacher who owns Waveland in Tuscon. She said, 'I don't know if you guys are thinking of recording, but you should check them out.' We really weren't. We only had about five songs. But Waveland was amazing, a really creative, musician-friendly environment. And we were in Portland about a month later and checked out that studio and thought this would be a cool way to do it."

While touring up and down the West Coast, the band rented practice rooms.

"We locked ourselves in there and just kept writing and being inspired by the life we were living at that moment. Traveling in a van is an interesting way to see the country and we were very inspired at that moment."

Barille says the twosome found that touring - whether clubs were empty or full - provided momentum.

"We played a Monday night in Lawrence, Kansas, and we didn't think many people would be there but it was packed," she says. "But you can do everything to get your name out and no one will come; you never know. We feel lucky that people stop what they're doing to come down and hear us. You not only get better but you end up meeting people along the way. A lot of people get discouraged and we have many times but you have to love it."

After a four-month break, they're ready to do it all over again. Following the April 25 Beachland release show, they head to New York City for a couple of gigs, including ClevelandFest at the Knitting Factory May 3, with half a dozen other area bands. They'll hit Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Omaha, Portland and Seattle, among other places, in May.

"Six months was pretty extreme and toward the end we were really excited to see our families and get back to normalcy and stop sleeping on couches," says Barille. "But now we're ready to go back out again. It's an amazing experience to get to play music every night and get to meet people you would never meet otherwise."

Mr. Gnome, If These Trees Could Talk, The Record Low: 9 p.m. Friday, April 25, Beachland Tavern, 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124. Tickets: $7.

Mark David and the Nightly Lights
A Million Letters (self-released)
myspace.com/thenightlylights

Recorded over the course of two sessions held at Kent's Waterloo Studios (famous as the place where Guided by Voices tracked its final three albums), Mark David and the Nightly Lights' debut is a rootsy affair that benefits greatly from a cameo by long-time session man Don Helms. The songs the 81-year-old Helms, famous for being Hank Williams' sideman for many years, plays on have a real air of authenticity to them. Twangy ballads like "Thinking For Now" and "Something More" are the real standouts here as Helms' distinctive steel guitar meshes nicely with David's powerhouse vocals, which are appropriately toned down. The tunes Helms doesn't appear on - the catchy opening number "Divine Intervention" and the moody ballad "Are You Coming Over?," for example - are pretty typical alt-country that could benefit from a bit more grit. - Jeff Niesel

Mark David and the Nightly Lights perform with Hot Rails at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23 at the Zephyr Pub (106 W. Main St., Kent, 330.678.4848). Free.

Jackson Rohm
Long Way From Moving On (self-released)
jacksonrohm.com

Singer-songwriter Jackson Rohm splits his time between Cleveland and Nashville and recorded this, his latest offering, in Nashville with Aaron Thompson producing. While Rohm's material has a decidedly mainstream bent, that's not necessarily a bad thing. "The Old Me" is as infectious as anything by the likes of Edwin McCain or Sister Hazel, acts for which Rohm has opened. The album's a little top-heavy with ballads, but the rollicking break-up tune "Your Wife Is Cheatin' on Both of Us" provides a good laugh, as does the Eagles-inspired number "Don't Cut Your Hair," both suggesting Rohm, whose pop-country approach can often be too safe, has a wilder side just waiting to be unleashed. - JN