Now You Know: The Preteens

After getting burned by bunk craigslist Coachella tickets, lo-fi lovefolk duo the Preteens resorted to spending the weekend at singer-guitarist Alex Miranda’s folks’ place in Lake Elsinore.

“We went to the Family Fun Center, and Alex hit the jackpot and won, like, 700 tickets on the first token,” says Annie Ryan, who sings and plays a stripped-down stand-up drum set.

When asked how many bracelets they got, Annie responds, “A bracelet-making kit!”

“An infinite amount of bracelets,” says Alex.

Despite the name, the Preteens are one teen (Annie, 18) and one post-teen (Alex, 20). The cheery, sarcastic couple began playing their anti-folk set about seven months ago, after meeting at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

“Everyone says we sound like the Moldy Peaches, but I’d say we’re more like Beat Happening,” Annie says. “We have really simple percussion and guitar.”

“We’re kind of fun, poppy, minimal,” says Alex. “No scorching solos, just because I can’t do it.… Some of the new stuff is heavier and deep. Not so upbeat, but only for a couple songs.”

“Most of our songs are about each other and our friends,” Annie says. “I mean, we don’t take ourselves really seriously.”

“Who wants to be serious?” Alex agrees.

They give me a cassette (which they dubbed at home) with a fold-out Preteens stencil.

“You’re the second tape holder of 200,” Annie says. They oblige with autographs.

“I always like to get some memorabilia from a show,” says Alex. “That’s kind of the focus of the tapes. All our songs are also online to download for free.”

The collection of candid songs is reminiscent of the Moldy Peaches. Songs like “Sleeping in Light” hint at Bright Eyes and White Stripes. The gem track is underwater punk tune “Lioness,” where Alex croons like a prepubescent Thurston Moore. The more melodramatic “Will” says, “You don’t trust me, no you don’t. And when you look at my mouth, all you do is hope.”

Incidentally, you can spot Annie’s mouth in Holy Molar’s “Cavity Search” video, eating a soy hot dog.

The Preteens are considering a U.S. tour with teamAWESOME! at the end of summer before relocating to the Seattle area. The duo returns to the Museum of Contemporary Art downtown May 15 to play a free show between 7 and 10 p.m. Or you can catch them with Paul Baribeau at the Ché Café June 6.

Got a wicked pissah new band? Let us know by sending your MySpace thing to barnaby_monk@sandiegoreader.com. We’ll check you/them out for our next installment of “Now You Know.”