It’s a good thing the four members of the Indigos decided to take up music in Chicago instead of politics – their honesty surely would have cut their political careers short by now.

Union Station, the debut album by this two-and-a-half year old band, shows their music is anything but pretentious. Released in May, the LP’s 10 original songs display the writing talents of lead guitarist Dave Kay and bassist Richard Smith. These men evenly split songwriting duties on Union Station, and both have a knack for painting painfully honest pictures of life through their music.

Kay, for example, penned the album’s title song, which drops allusions here and there about growing up in Chicago. And when he sings of a “frozen lake underneath these northern lights,” you imagine he’s referring again to his hometown. Kay’s honesty/bluntness sometimes has a beautifully sardonic twist, such as in “Down for the Count.” /So I took my pride out for a drink/I wound up on a barroom floor and if you didn’t talk so much I might believe you more./

While neither Kay nor Smith possesses a particularly forceful voice, their similar nasality (often bordering on the whiny) does grab your attention.

Many of the Indigos’ tunes have a jangling, folksy sound reminiscent of The Jay Byrds. The guitars of Kay and Jay Whithouse effectively fuse together on songs like “Right in the Back.”

But folksy isn’t the only way these guys know how to play. The super-synthesized guitar introduction to “Down for the Count” sounds as modern as any contemporary techno-pop hand, and the group’s flair for strummy country is displayed in “Untouchable Girl.”

The Indigos were formed by Smith and Kay in November 1985. The group has gained a loyal following and some good press through a seemingly endless stream of area concert appearances, including appearances at Chicago’s Cabaret Metro and The Limelight.

The hard work has paid off for the group at least temporarily, with the release of Union Station.

In today’s work of glitzy glam-rock, it’s refreshing to see a group more concerned with producing truthful music than an eye-grabbing image – especially if it’s a local group.