When a friend first approached Aaron Jentzen about the idea of making an experimental film to screen behind -- or even on -- Chalk Outline Party as the band performed, he wasn't sure if that was such a hot idea. But eventually, the art-rock side of Jentzen's sensibilities won out, and filmmaker Jessica Fenlon went to work assembling images.

"I said, 'Well, that sounds cool, but we don't want to get into a situation where we're following cues. If we can have something that's just some imagery that's fairly fluid so that we can just get up and do our job of being in a rock band, the imagery can hopefully make things more visually interesting. We're all about that kind of thing to some degree. We don't quite have the Peter Gabriel muscle suits yet, but you know. ..."

Having tested the waters last month at the Brillobox, Fenlon is screening her film, a blend of animation, psychedelic images and footage shot at local cemeteries, Friday at Mr. Small's Theatre, where the band is releasing a three-song CD single, "Psychic U.K." The title track is dark, dramatic pop in the Bowie tradition, haunting verses giving way to an anthemic chorus with crushing guitars. While "Metal Leg-Up" takes a similar approach, it's more explosive, led by lead guitarist Brian Sproul. And then, they sign off with a brooding unplugged track, "Magnetic West."

Considering the band's affinity for art-rock and the strength of the material, you kind of have to wonder why a three -song CD single, not a proper album.

"Well, we kind of don't believe in albums," Jentzen responds, before quickly retracting his statement.

"I think we all believe in albums way too much," he says, "as this important statement and so far we've put out three EPs, even though one of them was probably long enough to actually be an album. It seems like you have more flexibility with an EP to be like 'Hey, our sound's changing, we're developing, we're growing.' When you put out an album, it's like 'We're here, this is what we do.' And I think we want to hold off on that until we're able to actually distribute it and tour in support of it and do all that fancy rock stuff."

The band did a national radio campaign for "Cobra Youth House" from the last EP, and hopes to add to that momentum with "Psychic U.K." It's being released in a limited edition of 100 copies with cover art by former drummer Doug Kochmanski this week, but the national release is as a download through places like iTunes.

"That's the only kind of real distribution that's available to us and to a lot of local people," Jentzen says. "So if you're in Miami and you hear our song and want to buy the record, it's actually much more available to you just by going to iTunes or something like that than it would be if you tried to order it from us through our Web site. That's the advantage of instant gratification."

As much as Jentzen likes to talk about the advantage of doing a single, asked about the prospect of a full-length down the road, he doesn't have to think about it.

"Oh, hell, yeah," he says, enthusiastically. "The triple gatefold LP with a book to go with it! All that stuff. We're kind of art-rocky so all that stuff definitely appeals to us."

This weekend, fans should have as much to celebrate as the band. The show begins at 8 p.m. and also features School of Athens, Kill the Drama, Words to Live By and a DJ. Tickets are $8 in advance at 1-800-594-TIXX; $10 at the door.