In 2016, a band called Sioux Falls released Rot Forever, an ambitious, 72-minute double album debut that sounded somewhere in between Pavement and early Modest Mouse. Not long after, they rebranded as Strange Ranger and released Daymoon, morphing their sound into hazy, dejected lo-fi rock. The Portland quartet’s latest single, “Leona,” possibly their peppiest cut yet, reverts back to those ’90s influences. The “ba-da-da-da”s in the chorus wouldn’t sound out of place beside “Semi-Charmed Life” on a playlist.

“Leona” taps into alt-rock nostalgia without becoming hokey. Frontman Isaac Eiger is caught between a budding relationship and the mundanity of adult responsibilities: “I can still taste your kisses/Never want to do my dishes.” But the future feels a lot more real now that he’s encountered someone worth sticking it out for. “I've given up wanting love/But I could count the ways I've wanted you/I can't believe you'd want me too,” he sings, and a rush of entranced guitars lead the song out. At once breezy and distraught, “Leona” delivers a consoling reminder that although all our past romances were temporary, loneliness is temporary, too.