With their self-titled EP, the Dum Dum Girls reached out of the speakers grabbed the music listening public by the balls and then smacked them in the face with their fuzz-filled rock and roll music. Sub Pop scooped them up, and the multiple records that followed were loaded with just the right amount of fuzz, distortio,n and punk attitude to keep listeners around. The band, an extension of Dee Dee Penny, wears their bravado on their collective sleeve, but when you listen to their songs where lost love is a recurring theme, you see they are not as tough as their guitar-heavy music might suggest.

Dum Dum Girls’ latest offering, Too True, is a bit more polished has a little less distortion, but packs just as much of a punch as their earlier, rawer releases. With a steady drum beat the album kicks off with the “Cult Of Love.” Guitar riffs that are part surf-guitar and part Ennio Morricone frame Penny’s haunting vocals as she sings what could be the most stalker-related song since the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” Listen to “Rimbaud Eyes” and “Too True To Be Good,” and enjoy the infiltration of underlying pop melodies that polish up the fuzziness yet take nothing away from the music.

The brooding “Lost Boys and Girls Club” possesses some of the album’s best lyrics as Penny sings about loss and wanting, while upbeat rhythms combat dark lyrics on “Evil Blooms” — it sounds a lot like Blondie, which isn’t a bad thing. The album closes with a beautiful tune, “Trouble is My Name,” that is like nothing else on the record. It is the simplest track on the record but is the most powerful. Penny’s vocals hypnotically float over sublime arrangements as she longingly sings about a couple that is bad for each other.

Too True is an evolution for the Dum Dum Girls’ music. Their trademark brooding tone is still the focal point, but a polished melodic quality has found its way into the music giving their sound multiple layers. The difference is subtle and does not take away from what they are known for. After seeing this evolution, it makes the future look promising.

(Sub Pop Records, 2013 Fourth Avenue, Third Floor, Seattle, WA 98121)