The Versions Credit: Courtesy the Artist

Chile has long had a robust garage and psych scene, and one of the season’s most understatedly fun rock albums comes from Santiago. The four veteran musicians of the Versions joined forces in 2004, and their charming third album, the new Calling Lucifer, blends 70s rock and garage with a touch of glammy sleaze that feels more like a wink and a grin than it does an actual endorsement of debauchery (think Flamin’ Groovies vs. Motley Crue). Though the Versions throw in a couple covers from that era (the Jacobites’ “Fortune of Fame” and Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers’ “It’s Not Enough”), they focus on originals, such as groovy opening track “Train,” that can stand shoulder to shoulder with their predecessors. The breezy atmospheres on “Summer Romance” and “Island” will have you longing for carefree temperate days (on “Mine Mine” they sing, “We’ve got the power of the sun . . . / All we have is our time”), but of course summer is just starting in the southern hemisphere. The lively, nostalgia-tinged tracks on Calling Lucifer might just make it a little easier for those of us on the other side of the world to face the long, lonely winter ahead.   v