“The Noyelle Beast” comes from the aptly named UK trio Standard Fare, and is unique for its lack of ambition. The music is completely stripped down, less limber than Phoenix’s 2009 record “Wolfgang Amadeus,” less gimmicky even than Los Campesinos or The Strokes. With Standard Fare as well as these other bands, for a brief moment there’s a temptation to forgive vanilla pop because of a knack for writing bright succinct songs and tapping into what’s universally fun about uptempo guitars.

It might be pertinent to look at Standard Fare as a return to minimalism, much like how the 70s saw a resurgence of simplicity with bands like Dolly Mixture in light of Brian Eno’s experimentalism. These days, lo-fi experimentation seems to dominate major music critic lists like those on Pitchfork, but Standard Fare has gone in a different direction, attempting to make great music with production value but little to no experimentation beyond a folky indie pop formula.

The question is really whether adhering to a tried and true pop formula is commendable for minimalism or deplorable for nihilism. The fact of the matter is that through thirteen songs and almost 40 minutes Standard Fare doesn’t seem to want to add variety to “The Noyelle Beast.” Drums, guitar and bass are the only security blanket singer Emma Kupa needs. Bridges are always a repeated and inverted guitar scale played carefully and sensitively while Kupa throws her voice around above it with the standard issue of ohs and ahs.

The vocals are worth mentioning because they are really where Standard Fare tries to carve out a unique identity. First of all, Standard Fare has a girl singer, which is nice in an independent music climate that predominately showcases male singers.

Emma Kupa is engaging and (almost) mature, as she puts it on “Fifteen,” “I’m only 22, I still don’t know what it is I’m supposed to do,” but “You’re only 15 what was I thinking?” She shares vocal responsibilities in tandem with effeminate guitarist Danny How, and the boy/girl combination adds a little authority to sickeningly sweet songs like “Secret Little Sweetheart.”

Though Standard Fare is optimistic about the prospects of being young, they aren’t ever highfalutin with their spirit. They’re just kids trying to keep everything together, wondering what kind of trouble they’ll have to get themselves into. The halfhearted fussiness is pretty charming, and “The Noyelle Beast” even rewards an extra listen because Kupa wrestles openly with more difficult concepts like the demons of narcissism on “Let’s Get Back Together” and “Love Doesn’t Just Stop.”

All in all, “The Noyelle Beast” is a collection of relatively down to earth observations about the complications and triumphs of young life and love set to a beat and jangly guitars. To put it somewhat simply, they’ve made a record to tell about the good life not the great life, and sprinkled a couple of potential pop hits like “Fifteen” and “Dancing” in with it.

As for whether it’s minimalism or nihilism, that’s for the subjective realist in all of us to decide.

Grade: C

[Ed. note: This article has been updated.]