Mike James is quick to talk about what he's not going to do.

"I would really hate to get in a van," he says, "and go to Salt Lake City, or Abilene, Texas for five people who don't know who we are. It's a band-killer. It's stupid, man."

As former drummer for NYC atmospheric pop band, Longwave, James had done that already.

"We did it in a bus, too, with big money, and still played for five people. It's so disheartening. You might as well sit home and write a good song," he says. And that's exactly what he did.

James' new band The Mercies has just wrapped up work on its debut, self-titled album. Working under the name Footage, this was to be his side project during downtime. By James' guestimation the band had already four-tracked 87 songs during his Longwave tenure. So after waving goodbye to Longwave in March 2004 he immediately dove head first into the new project.

"I went down to New York, got my crap, went to my lawyers, signed the papers, came home the next day and rehearsed with Footage," he says.

Two and a half years and a new name later, the first album is finally born.

"You've got to get a sound before you go in and start documenting," he says. "I'm really official like that."

James figures the group demoed 70 songs in order to get where he wanted it to be.

"At first we were darker, although it was conflicted," he says. "I would want to do these pop songs that were like Apples In Stereo or something. But then on the other end I'm thinking Sonic Youth."

"It evolved," he says. "It wasn't anything we talked about. It just started happening. Slowly we became a little more of a pop band."

From the music's primary concept to the release of this CD, the combination of James' ideas with the contributions by the rest of the band (guitarist Adam Ford, bassist Brandon Lown, drummer Jonny Stevens, and utility man Dave McGinnis) rendered an unexpected aural reality.

"I'd never thought we'd be doing ‘Colors Of The World,'" he says. "It's so sunny." And songs like "Can't Stop Me Now" ride the line between both of James' conflicting loves, the abstract and the pop.

"The Mercies" was recorded in drummer Jonny Stevens' basement in Hemlock and was self-produced by the band with producer Bill Racine (Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo, Sleater-Kinney) jumping in toward the end for the mix down.

"He ended up arranging so much stuff in the mixing sessions that I gave him a co-producer credit," says James, who says now that he wishes Racine had produced the whole thing.

"The record would have sounded 85 times better had we not recorded it ourselves," he says. "We tried to polish a turd."

Whether it's exactly what everyone wanted or not is irrelevant at this point. It sounds great. It's well-written, well recorded, and the pop and the odd seem to be getting along just fine. It's just good ol' power pop, like The Replacements or Big Star or Badfinger. And for added character, there's a little dissonance, too.

"Yeah," says James. "That's the Eno Factor. I like experimenting."

The Mercies play a record release show Friday, July 20, at High Fidelity, 170 East Avenue, 325-6490, 9 p.m., call for tickets. For more information on the band visit www.myspace.com/themercies.