Trapper John seems to still believe in 1995 – a time when a million bands were following in the footsteps of Weezer, making accessible and earnest self-deprecating pop music with basic rock instrumentation.

The local Columbus pop-rock band celebrated the release of its new CD “West Coast Stereo” Friday at Ruby Tuesday with a concert to mark the event.

Singer John Bobo doesn’t sound anything like Rivers Cuomo, but he does manage to capture a vaguely familiar aspect of the angsty, yet completely non-aggressive teen-age wail that Cuomo exuded in his prime. His voice doesn’t have a lot of depth and lends an air of unprofessional youth to the band’s sound, which, when all your songs are about girls, not fitting in and being a loser, is a good thing.

In concert at the CD release party, the band seemed a little nervous, opting not to create much motion on stage. It’s difficult to discern whether they would become more active with a bit of confidence or if they’re just a relatively stoic live act in general.

The overall volume of the band was well below what one would expect and kept a cap on the energy potential of the songs. It was especially disappointing that the instruments sounded thin and subdued, because it is clear Ben Harris is a talented and interesting drummer, but his fills were buried in the mix and weren’t able to elevate the songs appropriately.

Their sense of humor had to be appreciated, marked by Bobo’s revelatory banter between songs with a somewhat sheepish voice that made everything he said sound ironic. His on-stage personality – shy and unconfident – fits right in with its geek-rock image. Clearly the guys are okay with that image; otherwise they wouldn’t be able to sing a song about wanting desperately to be John Stamos from the TV show “Full House,” as they do with “Stamos.”

Despite the nonenergetic live performance, the band’s CD has a much more pronounced and distinctive sound. The production, handled locally at Workbook Studio, is impressive, boasting a clarity and complexity not often found in recordings by unsigned bands.

Harmonies, overdubbed accentuations, and several forms of studio trickery are abundant and give the songs an extra punch that were not present live.

The album features new songs as well as some that are re-recorded from previous releases by the band. There is a bit of a quality gap between the newer and older songs in terms of cohesiveness, and perhaps the band should have spent a little more time reworking the structure of some of the older tunes to give them the same level of polish as the newer material.

“Class of ’85,” a new song, is the strongest track on the album and is a fitting opener that leaves a favorable first impression of the CD with its strong melody and bare lyrics that lay all the cards on the table as it tells of inadequacy and disappointment.

While the album is not stylistically varied, it does cover its niche well, ranging from the straight-forward mid-tempo rock of “Pomona” to the pop-rocker version of the power ballad with “Go See Sheila.”

The latter track is characterized by hilarious spoken interludes that are so self-aware and nerdy, they grant the song a distinct personality. Bobo talks through the lines “I’m sorry that the police had to get involved. I wasn’t aware of the restraining order. I just thought since we went to college together you wouldn’t mind if I flew 3,000 miles to come see you,” with a tongue-in-cheek mannerism that drives the point home and generates a good laugh all at once, in true geek fashion.

“West Coast Stereo” is an album that will likely generate nostalgia for the high school years, and could stir up one’s days of negligence from the opposite sex in a way that is simultaneously relatable and strangely enjoyable.

The quality of the songs is not consistent across the board, and perhaps would have benefited from a few songs being left off the lineup. The band seems to have matured and developed since the days of its earlier songs, and perhaps the temptation to include some old favorites clouded better judgment to leave them off and allow them to progress musically to the fullest extent.

This, however, won’t stand in the way of the CD being a fun listen, and if the band would only gain some stage presence, crank the volume on its amps, and show some enthusiasm, its live performance could match that of its record.