It was bound to happen—a brass band that is really a pop band rather than a horn-driven funk and soul machine. The Sweet Magnolia Brass Band showcases the songs of saxophonist Meg Dwyer, and they are pop tunes in the best sense of the word.

The short EP features six songs from Dwyer’s pen and they are all earworms, particularly the ones featuring vocals. The opening cut, “I Know That I Shouldn’t” kicks off like a hundred brass band songs before it with a percolating sousaphone line from Adrian Rotondo McCord.

But when Dwyer’s sassy voice comes in, the song veers out of the brass band world and into the realm of rock radio. In between verses, the band shifts right back into brass band territory with trumpeter Lillie Christie and trombonist Asher Ross playing hot solos amid great ensemble work.

If Dwyer’s pop sensibilities aren’t obvious from the opening cut, the lone cover on the album is Paul Carrack’s 1975 earworm “How Long.” You know the lyric, “how long has this been going on” but they play it elegantly as an instrumental and at a slightly faster tempo.

The cut showcases drummer Dane Schindler. He is truly the secret weapon of the band, manning his kit in the tried-and-true style of modern brass bands that eschew the traditional two-drum set up.

Dwyer’s lyrics bounce around easily within the instrumentation making the brass band set-up more of a necessity rather than a contrivance, especially on “Uneasy.” The sousaphone responds to her lyrics and her lyrics answer back. The instrumental cuts have the same back and forth, but the communication is between the instruments.

My only complaint about this collection of songs is that the title cut is an instrumental. “Glitter in the Bathtub” is a great song title, but it’s an even better concept to flesh out in lyrics only a New Orleanian would fully understand.