Lydia Giordano has stage fright. Which is weird since she's been roaring on guitar like her jazzed dad (Steve Giordano, a "Groove" Holmes collaborator and quartet leader) since childhood. Yet fear is this 23-year-old woman's best friend, fueling her songs for local trio Bumrunner with an irked edge at one with her sceeered twitchiness. It recalls a band that made dicey paranoia its signature: Black Sabbath. Also The Cure (the white guy groove), some Tool (bits of complex fractal prog) and Arcade Fire (the trilling clarity heard in Sean Bolton's vocals). That's Bumrunner's MO on its debut EP, recorded by Brian McTear. "Sean's always been a very strong singer," says Giordano about Bumrunner's second third (drummer Ari Miller's the third third). "[And] McTear just helped Sean to prove his full potential dynamically." She understands dynamics. As a kid in Germantown (a twin), Giordano grew up bearing down on classical cello lessons before playing guitar in garage bands with Bolton. They came up playing basements and house parties where Miller's been known to strip bare and Bolton "dances like he wants to try out for an '80s video back-line dancer." While there's nothing funny about Giordano's spooky metal treatises on stalkers and weathermen, they are naked. Very naked.

Fri., Jan. 13, 9 p.m., $8, with Undercast, Lolita Bras and Paradocs, North Star Bar, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-684-0808, www.northstarbar.com.