SINGAPORE: It's almost like that Leap Years story isn’t it? People who meet only twice a year for a month or two and get together to make sweet music. Except that in this story, there are four guys and no lovers per se — just lovers of music.

We’re talking about alt-rock outfit Nuance, who launch their debut self-titled EP at Home Club tonight.

The EP, produced by Evan Tan (The Observatory) and Eugene Wong (Morphy), contains five songs — or six, depending on your point of view: The song Fear Strikes Mankind is actually one song split into two.

It also contains two music videos for Mesopotamia and Fear Strikes Mankind.

Nuance decided to record their EP only because "our friends would say: ‘You should get off your a**** and do something’,” said lead singer Donald Pan.

“The thing is, we’ve always been very lazy,” said the 27-year-old. “Furthermore, I live in Melbourne, Australia, and I come back only once or twice a year to do gigs — recording never crossed our minds.

“The EP took about a month to record and somehow we managed to pull it together. It’s quite mad, because I’m only back for about a month or two, depending on what we need to do,” added the full-time househusband, who says a major part of his time is taken up looking after his six-year-old son, while his wife, who’s a doctor, brings home the bacon.

Nuance was formed eight years ago, when Donald met drummer Calvin Chian in an Internet chat room. They decided to go for a jam and invited bassist Kevin Loh because “we needed a bass player”, said Donald.

After switching guitarists twice, the band hooked up with Alexius Cai about one-and-a-half years ago, completing their line-up.

So, what can people expect for their launch gig? “Drunken sing-a-longs, I guess,” quipped Donald. “We usually like to get a few drinks before the gigs.”

And don’t worry if you can’t catch this gig, Donald has promised more music by next year. “At the moment, we’re talking about releasing a second EP. I’m heading back to Australia but I’ll be back here in December or January to record the EP and we’re looking to release it in July next year. And after that, hopefully, I’ll be back permanently,” said Donald.

The Nuance EP launch is tonight at Home Club, Riverwalk. Free entry before 10.30pm, $18 after. Free flow of standard drinks from 10.30pm to 11.30pm. - TODAY/fa