During a break between songs Monday night at Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Bell House, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin guitarist Will Knauer began absentmindedly picking out a melody on his Telecaster. After a few bars, the tune took shape and the audience -- led by Via Audio singer Jessica Martins, who had somehow commandeered a microphone -- sang a rousing chorus of 'A Whole New World,' Peabo Bryson's contribution to 1992's 'Aladdin' soundtrack.

Whether staged or impromptu, the Disney cover suited Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, a disarming, ever-pleasant Missouri indie-pop quartet whose members may well have once owned Bryson's smash on cassingle.

When not jogging the collective musical memory of the Bell House's 20-something contingent, the band played songs from its first two albums, 'Broom' and 'Pershing,' and previewed material from its forthcoming, still-untitled third effort, a collection produced by Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla that's due out early next year.

Compared to such old favorites as 'Pangaea' and 'Think I Wanna Die,' the new songs -- 'All Hail, Dracula,' most notably -- skewed hard, fast and twitchy. That said, they're about as far from "challenging" or "abrasive" as the band's home state is from Russia, and the material retains the genial bounce, chime-and-jangle guitars and soothing melodic turns that have characterized past efforts.

On the closing 'Modern Mystery,' the musicians let things devolve into their version of a free-for-all. Singer and guitarist Philip Dickey did a punk jump, unfazed by the possibility of wrinkling his JC Penney ensemble, while drummer Jonathan James shared his kit with Martins, who this time got her hands on a drumstick and started wailing on cowbell, adding percussive pings to the tune's dancey groove. Another girl, meanwhile, hopped onstage, grabbed a tambourine and flailed away for the final bars, blissfully unaware she was shaking too fast.

If the band noticed her rhythmic snafu, it didn't call her out. These guys are willing to look past the indiscretions and failed policies of Boris Yeltsin -- why wouldn't they let an enthusiastic fan dance to her own beat?