Band likes to keep its sound timeless

Sarah Borges deserves a break, but she refuses to take time off. After Borges and her Broken Singles -- who have been on the road for nine months -- finish up touring behind their breakthrough sophomore release "Diamonds in the Dark," they will go back into the studio to record a third album.

Expect Borges and the Broken Singles to preview the fresh material Sunday at Raleigh's Berkeley Cafe. "We're going to start work on the songs next week," Borges says. "But we're still going to play the songs at some shows so we can work out the kinks. I don't want to write a song and record it immediately. I don't know how people do that. I have to air the songs out. So the people in Raleigh get to hear what we're working on."

Local fans will also experience plenty of the justifiably acclaimed "Diamonds in the Dark," which is an eclectic delight. The gritty and playful Borges and her band -- guitarist Mike Castellana, bassist Binky and drummer Rob Dulaney -- veers from torch songs to rockabilly, twangy country to melodic pop.

"We can't help but run the gamut," Borges says. "We have four distinct personalities. We love to go from rock to country to whatever."

Some of the most effective tracks Borges recorded are covers. Versions of X's' "Come Back to Me" and Tom Waits' "Blind Love" are featured on "Diamonds."

"X is just one of my favorite bands ever," she says. "We were simply paying homage to them. What I love about X is that they are a quintessential American rock band without the drama. As for the Waits track, well, that was a strange one. It was something we heard on the stereo, and we simply decided to take a crack at it."

Weaned on such '90s indie rockers as Archers of Loaf and Swervedriver, Borges, who resembles a punky, edgy Sandra Bullock, writes songs in a timeless style that has more in common with X and Waits than many of her contemporaries.

"I write in an honest manner, and that's why the songs sound like they do," she says. "I'm not trying to be pretentious or trendy. If you start quoting MySpace, I think that's when you start to get into trouble. I would rather not have anyone look back at what I do and think, 'That sounds really 2008.' But I don't think I have to worry about that, since I don't write songs in a way that screams a particular year."

A large part of Borges and the Broken Singles' appeal is their typically loose, raucous live shows.

"When we go out there, we just want to play like it's the best party in town," she says. "I just want to have fun. That's what I always looked for when I was going to shows."

And at the end of them, Borges says she's often spent.

"I'm not just tired physically. I'm tired emotionally since a lot of my songs are emotionally tiring. But it's a good kind of tired. It's like running a marathon. I leave everything I have on that stage."