Taking cues from the Verve, Galaxie 500, and My Bloody Valentine, Nevada mixes shoegaze and neo-psychedelia into hazy expanses of indie rock. The six-piece band hails from Asheville, North Carolina, a cultural oasis located between the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. It’s a picturesque town with a growing music scene, but cofounder Sean Robbins says the group’s name isn’t supposed to downplay his home. “We made posters for our first show using several band names,” he explains, “and ‘Nevada’ looked the best.” It also fits the band’s spacey songs, whose combination of male-and-female harmonies, string sections, multiple guitars, and reverb (lots and lots of reverb) is often as broadly spacious as that vast, lonely state.

Nevada is currently supporting The Sunlight and the Sound, the co-ed Carolinians’ full-length debut, with a live show that includes “eight- to ten-minute psychedelic freak-outs” and a lot of instrument switching. Songs range from “In the Light” (which recalls early R.E.M., particularly the Stipe-sounding background vocals) and the vaguely British “Stars” to the lighthearted indie pop strains of “Flier’s Dream.” Asheville is beautiful this time of year, its surrounding hills all ablaze with fall foliage, but those who can’t travel south for a Nevada gig can see what they’re missing at MySpace.