Pale Dian has a serious English fetish. The trio of dark new wavers from Austin, Texas, makes a shimmering brand of ’80s Brit pop in the vein of the Cocteau Twins and Lush.

The band’s shoe-gazed new release, “Narrow Birth,” is a lugubrious mix of melodic uplifts and abstracted vocal detachments. Songs such as the atmospheric lament, “The Avenue,” and the lush push-pulls of “Judy Garland Is Dead” find serenity and strength in an implied sadness that infuses all of the group’s work. Even its up-tempo numbers are saturated with a blissful electronic sorrow.
Pale Dian bestows its pleasurable pains at Strange Matter on Thursday, July 14. Opening will be the floral sounds of Graveface recording artists the Stargazer Lilies, Karacell from Norfolk and Richmond’s own Dazeases. Doors open at 9 p.m. $8.