A debut, overdue

Call it delayed gratification. “Self-Help Serenade,” the debut album for L.A.-based band Marjorie Fair, is due next month, about a year after it was released in Europe. What’s more, it was completed a year or so before that.

Lead singer-songwriter-guitarist Evan Slamka looks on the bright side. “At the end of the day, we’re in such a better position now than we were a couple years ago,” he says, relaxing in the Skid Row loft where he and the rest of the band can both practice and sleep. “We had what I thought was a good record, but ... things just weren’t jelling on a lot of levels.”

The group -- which now includes keyboardist Dain Luscombe, bassist Scott Lord and drummer Mike DeLisa -- blends the restrained melodic style of Coldplay with atmospherics and crunching psychedelia reminiscent of the Beatles and Pink Floyd. “They’re basically folk songs,” Slamka says, “and then what I try to do is, with the band, blow it up and try to make it more cinematic. And that’s always a delicate balance because sometimes with too much volume or maybe too many layers of things you can lose that direct point.”

The band begins a video shoot today for “Empty Room” -- a standout cut and the first single from the album -- with director Adam Levite, who just worked with Queens of the Stone Age on their latest, “In My Head.”

After that: a date Tuesday at the El Rey Theatre, opening for the Dears and the Shout Out Louds, which kicks off a tour accompanying the two groups across the country.