New year, new album, new name.

At 8 p.m. Friday, Halfloves, formerly known as the Olympics, will play songs from its new album at the Englert, 221 E. Washington St.

Englert Executive Director Andre Perry said Halfloves’ determination to become a better band and develop its “sound and aesthetic” over the years sets it apart from other bands in Iowa City.

“They have been sticking with it and getting better over the years in terms of songwriting and in terms of the final product,” Perry said. “They’re really just committed to touring and playing shows, being part of it, and pushing their art as a primary focus.”

Some members of Halfloves have been musical nearly all their lives: Trevor Polk grew up practicing classical piano, Lucas Adolphson “used to walk around his house with his bass constantly,” Noel Nissen was “pretty much born with drum sticks in his hands.”

Some members of the band, however, came to music later.

“[Jeff Roalson] didn’t have much of a musical background before his teen years and was actually a dancer for the most part,” Polk said. “One day in a science class, he and a friend decided to learn instruments and make a band.”

Nate Cooper is another latecomer to the band.

“[Adolphson] just tricked [Cooper] into our band, and we forced him to play bass,” Polk said.

Polk jokingly called the story of what brought the band together “an exhausting story that’s mostly boring.”

“It’s hard to look at who we are as Halfloves and easily trace back the links to where each of us met and started playing music together,” Roalson said.

He still tried.

“There are several years of friendship and musical collaboration that brought us together,” he said. “I actually met [Polk] in a basketball league. He introduced me to his longtime friend [Nissen], and the three of us ended up moving into a house together with fourth roommate, [Adolphson], who later joined the band and was the one who asked [Cooper] to be our bassist last year.”

The Halfloves muscians recognize that in the three-and-a-half years since their last album, many things have changed in their lives.

“That chunk of time definitely includes some changes in our music,” Roalson said. “The new band name and whole rebranding was also due to the fact that the Olympics is essentially impossible to re-brand as our own thing, which is important to us.

“We wanted to start fresh with this new album, with no chance of getting sued by the actual Olympic Committee,” Roalson said. “It was time to rip off the Band-Aid. We want to be singular, much like the music we aspire to make.”

Polk sees the Englert as an ideal place to “create a beautiful environment.”

“The remarkable thing about great rooms like that is that there has been a lot of fantastic performances soaked into the walls,” he said.

MUSIC

Halfloves

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Englert, 221 E. Washington

Admission: $10-$15