By MIKEL TOOMBS

“Is this more than a crush?” He Is We singer Rachel Taylor asks on “Blame It on the Rain,” one (actually two) of the many simple and engaging songs on the Auburn, Wash., duo’s current release, “Old Demos.”

Yes, there’s a Taylor Swiftian ingenuousness to the pop-topped He Is We, and while the demos may be old, this Taylor and her songwriting partner, guitarist Trevor Kelly, are not; both are 19. (They met while working in a Tacoma musical instrument store.) Not surprising (after all, the group is called He Is We), there’s a Christian tinge to the likes of “Light a Way” and a surprisingly mature version of that classic redemption song, “House of the Rising Sun.”

Named Unsigned Band of 2009 on PureVolume.com (2.5 million plays!), He Is We promises an official full-length debut (while called an EP, “Old Demos” is plenty long) this month on Universal Motown and the duo, paired with The Rocket Summer, performs an acoustic set Monday, Nov. 8, at El Corazon, 101 Eastlake Ave. E in Seattle.

Download music from “Old Demos” here.

Read Mikel Toombs’ recent story about Sahara Smith here.