There was a day when, to a small handful of janglemeisters, Denver was about as cool as Seattle once was to the flannel-in-July set. The irrepressible lords of the Elephant Six collective, The Apples in Stereo, rocked the town, while the cutesy Dressy Bessy’s ’60s-inspired pop was as hip as it was catchy.

But the Apples packed their bags and headed east just as Dressy Bessy became a predictable, if still instantly catchy, pop outfit. Breezy Porticos, a band with ties to the Bessies so obscure even their biographer can’t really remember them, might just be the Mile High City’s answer to its sagging indie-pop stocks.

As carefree and funloving as Dressy Bessy, the band eschews revivalism for a jangly burst of twee pop that puts it in line with the more modern leanings of the national set. A bit of E6-inspired pop creeps in, particularly on “Six Flags Over Nowhere,” with its cascades of male/female backing doo-be-doo or “Breezy Porticos,” a track with more jangle and shine than half the E6’s members can boast. There’s, of course, the hand of classic twee at work, with virtually every tune wavering between oh-so-cute fragile guitars and candy-shop melodies and the light, airy production that hints at a love for everything from The Softies to Wolfie.

What sets Keep it Crisp apart from the rest of the twee munchkins is that Breezy Porticos trades an overworked sense of cute for a deceptively clever twist on indie-rock geekdom. Tunes such as “My Biplane,” which lets references to geometry and classic aviation walk hand in hand without sounding forced, or “Intrigue on the Settee,” which name-drops grocery-store bestseller John Grisham with in-the-know irony, prove that there’s more to the band’s repertoire than unleashing an army of fuzzy bunnies to cuddle us to death.