by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“We’re married to couplecore!” jokes Steve Durand, when asked whether he and Ariel Engle have made it official. But just as modern lovers don’t need a document to commit, modern bands don’t need to validate their music with record deals and pro studios. Under what Durand calls a “Euro-feminine, soft and warm”-sounding moniker, Moufette (meaning skunk), he and Engle are set to launch their eponymous debut LP on their own indie imprint, High Tide, to be distributed by MapleMusic.

Despite the cleanliness of their sound, a velvety concoction of acoustic instruments, beats, samples and voices, the record has been a very DIY affair, four years in the making.

“We were both a little hesitant to open that crazy can of worms,” says Durand, explaining that Moufette took root six months after he and Engle met. But once he lured her into his “lair in the country” (down a path splattered with black-and-white roadkill), the duo delighted in experimenting with recording, and with Engle’s voice.

“I was a closet singer,” she says. “I grew up being very close to Martha Wainwright, and I sang a little bit on her demos. I always wanted to sing but I couldn’t stand hearing my voice played back. That was one of the things I had to get over.”

After emerging from studio hibernation, Moufette hit the stage, opening for Interpol at the Jupiter Room—they recently did so again, this time at Metropolis. The pair put their project on hiatus, however, when Durand was drafted to work with his old Tinker bandmate Melissa Auf der Maur on her solo record and subsequent world tour. Meanwhile, Engle contributed vocals to the sophomore LP by fellow Montrealer Montag, and produced some unreleased solo material.

Between Tinker (who broke up in 1996) and Moufette, Durand amassed his own hoard of recordings, and a few solo selections from both halves of Moufette will be included on their “spill-over” disc, to be sold primarily at shows. They call it their b-sides record.

“You don’t know our a-sides,” jokes Engle, “but we got b-sides.”

At Main Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 10 p.m. sharp, $5, free for seniors and children

>> Music Listings