Mighty Clouds take the stage Wednesday night in Ypsilanti at Savoy.

Ypsilanti's own lo-fi troubadour Fred Thomas debuts his latest project, Mighty Clouds, Wednesday night at Keystone Underground with a live performance and record release party as part of pop-oriented dance night Absolute Beginners.

The group finds Thomas reunited with Saturday Looks Good To Me bandmate Betty Marie Barnes, revisiting the dreamy pop sounds of SLGTM crossed with the intimacy of Thomas' solo recordings. As Thomas explained on his blog, "I always wanted to do a band that kind of focused on Betty's voice ... I imagined a stripped-down musical landscape with lots of different vocal parts coming in and out, an internal sound, open and direct," and Mighty Clouds was born.

Mighty Clouds, named after a Jamaican record label and the last new song penned and played by SLGTM, will perform songs from their self-titled debut recording, now for sale at Thomas' label, Life Like, and streaming at Bandcamp. The record first came together in summer 2009 as Barnes, now based in Sweden, visited Michigan for three days to craft harmonies and song structures and lay down the vocal tracks at Thomas' home studio. Over the next several months, Thomas added instrumentation — with the help of fellow local musicians such as Scott Sellwood (SLGTM/Drunken Barn Dance) and Amber Fellows (Swimsuit/Dos Hermanos) — arranged the songs and mixed the record. In a press release, Barnes describes Mighty Clouds' debut as "... a nice blend of SLGTM and Fred's solo stuff, which is pared down and a bit more personal. It's the best of both worlds." Listen to Mighty Clouds "Stay Single" (MP3).

Before and after Mighty Clouds' set, Thomas and Fellows along with Tim Sendra (Santa Monica Swim and Dive Club) will spin left-of-the-dial and retro pop tunes as part of their twice-monthly dance night, Absolute Beginners. It's a not-to-be-missed event for fans of local and/or melodic indie music, and it's free, to boot.

Absolute Beginners 9/Mighty Clouds: Wednesday, November 24 at Keystone Underground, 200 West Michigan Avenue, Ypsilanti. Free. 18+. Doors at 9 p.m.

Chrysta Cherrie is the entertainment producer/copy editor for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at chrystacherrie@annarbor.com or 734-623-2526, and follow her on Twitter @chrystacherrie.