Though Rubblebucket toured extensively behind two full-length albums as well as two EPs, their recent label-backed release Save Charlie almost feels like the start of a new chapter for the seven-piece funk/pop outfit. The Brooklyn-based band eased up on touring this past year, enabling singer Kalmia Traver and trumpeter Alex Toth to write new music. (Traver also successfully beat cancer.) The result is a well-rounded and catchy EP that has fine-tuned Rubblebucket’s sound. The bouncy title track packs in ‘80s dance hall beats, then closes with a recitation of a poem that Toth wrote for Traver while she was away in New Orleans. The summery anthem “Patriotic” highlights Travers’ voice, while the production on “What a Fool Believes” turns the Doobie Brothers classic into something virtually unrecognizable, but wholly Rubblebucket’s own.