A few years ago, a crush of scrappy girl-fronted groups flooded the airwaves, all crooning about love, the thrill of the chase and broken hearts. The comely ladies of the Dum Dum Girls, with the release of their 2010 debut I Will Be, arrived on the scene with a way-too-cool-for-school attitude, shimmering, atmospheric harmonies, a song about spending the night in jail and even a song sung completely in German–yet despite the nuances of their music, they got lumped in with all the rest. Now that their second album Only In Dreams is fresh out of the oven from Sub Pop Records, it's clear they've created the stuff that'll keep this band in it for the long haul, not just for the swag and street cred.

Where I Will Be was gorgeously drenched in fuzzy reverb to create a safe distance between their performance-shy leader Dee Dee and the audience, Only In Dreams–also produced by "My Boyfriend's Back" mastermind Richard Gottehrer–strips most of that away to showcase Dee Dee's soulful, wildly-underrated vocal abilities and her keen ear for pop melodies which, in my opinion, will be remembered for their craftsmanship long after the band's contemporaries have fallen to the wayside.

Dee Dee wrote the album as her mother died rapidly of cancer, each song born from the sorrow she felt over that ordeal and the anxiety she felt from being away from her husband (Brandon Welchez, singer of the night's opening band Crocodiles). Each song, from the single "Bedroom Eyes" to "Teardrops On My Pillow" and beyond contains imagery and depth of emotion that double as both songs about yearning for someone you miss and someone you're about to lose forever.

Show starts at 8pm, tickets are $19 at the door at Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell St., 415-885-0750.