Pop Music Reviews : Blake Babies’ Sweet Looks and Turbulent Tunes

“This is a song about the benefits of shrapnel,” singer Juliana Hatfield announced during the Blake Babies’ show at Club Lingerie on Thursday.

Emotional debris is what she was talking about. The Boston trio’s turbulent little tunes are charged with incidents of betrayal, rejection, rage, conflict, spite, remorse. . . .

Not an unusual menu for an “alternative” rock band these days, but the Blake Babies (who also play Bogart’s on Sunday) make it more memorable than most--partly because of Hatfield’s impelling, little-girl yowl, partly because they look way too young and sweet to have gotten into such messes. Playing to a thinned-out Lingerie audience following unrelated sets by L.A. roots-rockers James Intveld and Rosie Flores, the threesome looked as if they had burst into song while down in the dorm laundry room.

Their minimalist rock moved along pretty briskly on Hatfield’s bass and Freda Boner’s drums, while John Strohm kept finding real hooks in his thick, grungy guitar work. The effect was one of sweetness trying to escape the muck.