BUZZ BANDS

They’re not just singing it, they’re living it

The Submarines engage in sweetly wry romanticism, with the kind of boy-girl vocals that induce couples to sway, hold hands or steal a knowing glance. Not lost on husband-and-wife songwriters John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard is the irony that for a time during the creation of “Declare a New State,” their debut album on Nettwerk, they weren’t a couple.

“It started before we broke up, then through the breakup, and then through the makeup,” Hazard says. “There was a period we were not collaborating, and I was writing songs I’d play for him ... until we realized, ‘This works.’ ” Creatively and romantically, that is.

Both Dragonetti (a.k.a. Jack Drag) and Hazard (the great-granddaughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald) emerged from the vibrant Boston scene. The chance to make music for film and TV brought them to Los Angeles, prompting a friend to tell Hazard, “ ‘You and your boyfriend are going to break up; that’s what everybody does when they move to L.A.,’ ” she says.

The separation and reconciliation, and their timing, add nuance to the duo’s lovelorn/lovesick refrains. That they declared a new state? That’s a bonus you don’t get with a lot of relationship records: a happy ending.

The album, mastered by a friend as a wedding present, will be celebrated with a show Tuesday at the Hotel Cafe.

Outline fills in the details

Four years of work committed to history in four days -- that’s how the Outline’s debut album, “You Smash It, We’ll Build Around It” (out this week on Fearless Records) took shape.

“Nice balance there, huh?” singer-guitarist Graham Fink says with that’s-the-record-business aplomb.

Not that Chris Fudurich’s studio work sounds like a rush job. The album’s sonic sprawl, however, reveals a metamorphosis that could have occurred only over a period of time, Fink says, when the L.A. quartet “added members and lost members and really rethought the type of music we were making. We didn’t want the record to have one ‘sound’ anyway.”

The result is a commingling of brawny rock, production-heavy anthems and synths from outer space, signaling the band’s dual affections for classics like David Bowie and Led Zeppelin and for modern electronica.

Fink and band mates Austen Lee, Ryan Rabin and Max St. John, fresh off a handful of dates on the Warped Tour, play a record-release show Wednesday at the Key Club before hitting the road for tour dates with Orange County’s Saosin.

Fast

forward

* Touts: Punkers Flogging Molly are celebrating a July 25 CD/DVD release with screenings of their feature-length documentary “Whiskey on a Sunday” at 8 p.m. the next two Tuesdays -- at Molly Malone’s, of course.... Matt Costa’s shows tonight and Friday at the Troubadour are sold out, as is the gig at the West Hollywood venue on Monday featuring British dance-punkers the Rakes, who impressed at this spring’s Coachella.... Scottish six-piece Camera Obscura, touring behind their lovely “Let’s Get Out of This Country,” hits the Troubadour on Wednesday.... Austin, Texas, transplant Oliver Future, which has been brewing some new things with producer Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), has two Tuesdays remaining in its string of shows at the Viper Room.... And when one CD just seems too skimpy: New Jersey quintet the Early November this week released a triple-decker, “The Mother, the Mechanic and the Path,” on L.A.’s Drive-Thru Records. One disc is hard-edged emo, another is acoustic and the third is something of a pop opera. The band celebrates the release with two shows tonight at Anaheim’s Chain Reaction -- both sold out.

* Shouts: Get-well wishes to ex-Fear bassist Derf Scratch, recovering from injuries (including four broken limbs, a shattered elbow and broken collarbone) sustained in an auto accident a few weeks ago. Friends are putting together a benefit show; in the meantime they’ve built www.myspace.com/derfscratch to solicit donations to help defray the musician’s medical expenses.... To the Shys, who ushered in the release of their debut “Astoria” on Monday at the Troubadour.... To the Clean Prophets and Sky Parade for their sets last week at Safari Sam’s. Look for the Clean Prophets to self-release overlooked gem “Praise Is Poison” soon. Sky Parade, having added keyboards and an electric violin with distinctly Verve-like results, is readying its “Love Is Forever” EP and will join the reconfigured Midnight Movies in supporting July residents Darker My Love on Monday at Spaceland.

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-- Kevin Bronson

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* Stream the Submarines’ “Brighter Discontent” at www.myspace.com/thesubmarinesmusic.

* Stream the Outline’s “Shotgun” at www.purevolume.com/theoutline.

* Stream the Early November’s “Hair” at www.myspace.com/theearlynovember.