The band is named after a German instrument and the French word for beauty, but homegrown talent is what makes The Belle Game special.

West Vancouver friends Adam Nanji and Alex Andrew, who have known each other since they were five, teamed up with West Vancouver secondary friend Andrea Lo to form the band and record four tracks in 2009. Later, Montrealer Katrina Jones came along and the group is now in perfect harmony.

The group is a blend of indie, folk and rock, featuring wistful melodies that harmonize with male and female vocals. Each member contributes their voice to the music and plays an instrument, either acoustic guitar, keys or glockenspiel. Lo describes their music as "bittersweet", while Jones says it's "happy."

"Shoulders & Turns", the lead track off their four-song EP Inventing Letters, showcases the many talents of each group member. The acoustic guitar strums at a slow, steady pace while vocals fly above it in sweet, melancholy melodies. The light tones of the glockenspiel highlight the dreamlike quality of the lyrics.

Jeffrey Zablotny, a fellow West Vancouver secondary grad, was so impressed by the song that he offered to make a music video to the tune. The result is an impressive blend of halogen lights and shadows, cloudy backdrops, fantastical light constellations and strings of hanging letters. Go to myspace.com/thebellegame to see the video.

The tone changes dramatically on the second song on the EP, "Cocaine Starry Eyes," which Nanji wrote solo. "When we play it live, everyone sings in it. But it's funny because, that song, when I was writing it . . . I didn't have the people, or the voices, or a real thought-out idea of how to do it." When the group came together, the song did, too, with two harmonizing male voices -- an interesting twist on the other songs.

The group's voices always seem to blend in a combination of jokes, anecdotes from the road and laughter. Andrew has turned their roadtrip adventures into a series of webisodes -- small video episodes on the band's website. The webisodes also help to document the time that the band gets to spend together.

For the time being, Lo and Andrew are staying local (working and studying at SFU), while Nanji and Jones are on the other side of the country studying at McGill. The group sees the distance as an advantage says Lo.

"There is a benefit to us being separated and only having a short amount of time together, because we do focus in that time because we know we're limited."

But after graduation, they intend to take things to the next level, "I want our full-length album to be well-received, I want to tour a lot," says Nanji. He hopes that a Polaris Music Prize might be on The Belle Game's horizon.

The group, which practises after work and school are over for the day, has performed in such cities as Montreal, Vancouver and New York, but their favourite place to get on stage is Ottawa where the smaller music scene means audiences are more enthusiastic.

Vancouver's music culture might be full of rhythm and talent by contrast, but The Belle Game offers something unlike anything we've heard before. The years these friends have spent together seep in to the music, through their organic and collaborative writing process. And as friends they feel that they can speak openly about the music, says Andrew.

"When we don't like one of the other's ideas one of us will just tell the other person. And for a second, we're like 'I hate that' . . . and then you turn around and you're like, 'Actually no, you're right'."

Earlier this summer The Belle Game were voted Shore 104.3 FM Sounds of Summer fan favourites at Shorefest 2010 for their song "Tiny Fires."

"I've heard a lot of my friends' moms come up and tell us that they love our music, but I've also heard some of my coworkers say that their children will scream and cry in the car until they put our CD on," says Andrew.

What The Belle Game needs for now, say, the band is exposure. Expanding on their base of listeners has been difficult, but it's a problem they hope to solve by going on tour. The band has had recent success in Los Angeles filming their next music video -- even so, its members measure success differently.

"I just hope it takes me or all of us to a place where we can make music," says Jones who met Nanji while waiting tables in Montreal.

Tomorrow night they get back to work with a gig at the Media Club. Tickets $8 will be available at the door. The opening act, Riun Garner, an acoustic singer-songwriter, will be on at 8 p.m.

To get a preview of The Belle Game's music and video go to www.myspace.com/thebellegame. The EP is also available on iTunes and at thebellegame.com for $4.95. Follow the band's progress on Twitter under the handle TheBelleGame.

jluther@nsnews.com