No Knife, No Knife, No Knife. I love(d) No Knife. The San Diego band filled such an important space in my music collection – somewhere between punk music I never attached myself to and the power pop of the indie scene that I loved. Throw in some cryptic songwriting, and I’m hooked. (I can’t recommend No Knife’s Hit Man Dreams and Fire in the City of Automatons enough.)

Former No Knife guitarist/co-frontman Ryan Ferguson, whom I’ve written about before, is set to release his full-length solo debut, Only Trying to Help on Better Looking Records on Aug. 21.

Ferguson’s solo work, like on his EP Three, Four, is less jagged than his work with No Knife, a little smoother around the edges. But it’s no less interesting. From what I’ve heard on Only Trying to Help (thanks, 3Hive), Ferguson crafts big guitar hooks that, these days, are a little more pop than punk, but it opens the way for more straightforward and thoughtful lyrics.

You can stream Only Trying to Help at Ferguson’s Last.fm page (Remission and Kill My Confidence are faves so far).

3Hive (with Ferguson’s permission) also is offering his EP Three, Four in its entirety.

• Ryan Ferguson | Remission