Just Letting It alt Hang Out Pays Off for Trio : Pop music: Group’s debut album is a wild and spontaneous affair; so was the recording of it.

Spontaneity. It’s an essential ingredient in music, but one that frequently gets lost on contemporary albums amid modern production techniques and the desire for perfection.

Still, the “we’re all friends and we’re all having fun and that’s all that matters” mind-set is alive in the form of alt, the trio performing tonight at the Coach House. Made up of Belfast songwriter Andy White, Hothouse Flowers’ Liam O’Maonlai and ex-Split Enz and Crowded House member Tim Finn, alt is an acronym of the trio’s first names, not a declaration that the music is “alternative.” In fact, alt is a refreshingly guileless alternative to alternative.

The group’s predominantly acoustic recent debut album, “altitude,” is full of great pop hooks and expert songcraft, but it’s also a reckless and noisy affair--endearingly so. It sounds like a group of guys sitting around in a studio getting plastered, having a great time and enjoying one another’s company--because that’s exactly what it is.

Recorded at Finn’s home studio in Melbourne, the sessions were laid down strictly for fun, with the principals banging away on a variety of instruments and singing. The album was released without alteration as an afterthought. This accounts for “altitude’s” infectious rawness, which is at times reminiscent of the early, playful Fugs albums, minus the raunch and with better overall musicianship and songwriting.

“The fact that I have a studio sort of facilitated the whole thing,” Finn said in a recent phone interview. “We met in Dublin. Liam and Andy were sharing this big house, and there were always people coming by. I was able to stay with them for a while, and the friendship just kind of grew from the crucible of that house. We did a lot of playing and a lot of drinking and a lot of bonding, I suppose you could say.

“Liam and Andy came in [to the studio] and we were able to sneak in and do sort of a private affair, really. We didn’t have to invite record companies or managers or anything. If we had to do it the regular way and ask for a budget and everything, it wouldn’t have been alt. This band is exquisite imperfection, and I think it’s hard to get that with people breathing down your neck.

“The house is really the fourth member of the group, because you can hear doors slamming and people laughing and what’s going on in the kitchen. . . . We had a nice collection of wines in the house. We’d start on the rose at about 6 o’clock and then might go off into a tangent later on or not. It wasn’t a complete Dionysian Bacchanalia, but it had a nice flow. It has a nice ‘being underwater’ sort of feeling to it.”

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The group was so pleased with the results of the sessions that they decided to try and get them released. After some finagling, the album came out last August on Cooking Vinyl America Records.

“It wasn’t easy at first, particularly with Liam and the commitment he has with Hothouse Flowers,” said Finn. “Andy and I are a bit more free agents. So I credit London Records (Hothouse Flowers’ label) in that they were very generous and agreed to it in the end. Everyone caught the spirit of it and really wanted it out.”

Finn said that alt will be an ongoing though irregular project and that there’s no conflict between the group and O’Maonlai’s status with Hothouse Flowers.

“None of that is really a problem,” he said. “We look at this with great affection and would really like to return to it and do it again. It’s not going to impinge or hurt anything else.

“Alt is a friendship really, and the friendship comes first. So alt, to that extent, is unstoppable and unbreakable.”

* The trio alt plays tonight at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Nico & the Garbagemen and Francis Dunnrey open. 8 p.m. $21.50. (714) 496-8930.