“It was like a really strange day at school.” Chairlift guitarist Aaron Pfenning is squinting, pulling back as he recalls the band’s defining moment: the day the iPod commercial came out. Their song “Bruises” -- a blissed-out pop love letter, akin to Bryan Eno deconstructing the Cure, replete with an insanely catchy chorus about headstands -- was set to a bunch of brightly colored flying iPods. “It’s the kind of thing every band dreams of,” says Pfenning. “It’s like everyone’s giving you valentines, and you have no idea where they’re coming from.”

The story is (mostly) simple: a baby-faced, unassuming indie-pop trio meets during college in Boulder, Colorado, a less-than-ideal place for aspiring musicians to flourish. “We were really disappointed with the kind of scene that was out there,” says lead singer Caroline Polachek. “It was very slicked-black hair, studded belts… and jam bands. Lots of jam bands.” So the three friends made their move to Brooklyn. A practice space, plenty of shows and a record later, and they’re hearing themselves over flying electronics -- which is how it’s supposed to be done, right? Maybe.

Polachek, whose throaty, sultry voice betrays her tiny, pixie-esque frame, is quick to distinguish the single from the rest of Chairlift’s repertoire. “‘Bruises’ is a total outlier on the record,” she explains. “It almost didn’t make it on there.”

She’s dead-on right about this. The rest of Does You Inspire You isn’t such a light, pop-soaked affair. It’s a little darker, a little stranger, veering in wildly different directions: the sound of chirping birds, for example, that fades into the sci-fi, chime-infused atmospheric album opener “Planet Health” contrasts with the twangy, Nashville-on-ecstasy country of “Earwig Town,” which contrasts with everything else on the album. Especially “Bruises.”

Have they mined the fame of their iPod commercial yet? Drummer Patrick Wimberly jumps in: “There’s a moment when your parents are like, ‘Oh, they really are musicians.’”

“That was amazing,” says Polachek, grinning. “That was really cool.”

CHAIRLIFT'S FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Diner, New York.

Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews. Styling by Bryan Levandowski.