You can call it folk, Americana, indie rock -- some might even call it country. But essentially, what Langhorne Slim does is write musical love letters. The 27-year-old musician born as Sean Scolnick can find 103 ways to say it, but when it comes down to it, his entire musical career has really been an exercise in crafting the perfect love song.

"I'm not sure there's any other kind (of song)," he says, frankly.

Lyrically, he's a charmer. Though a New York City resident, he comes off as the type who'd tip his hat rather than flip the bird. His melodically gritty songs reflect his gentlemen's nature, marked by his signature sweet whine that rings with honesty and excitement. Even his whiskey-soaked ballads have an underlying twinge of sunshine and poppy optimism.

Starting as a solo act searching for gigs in small New York bars, Langhorne Slim has since fleshed out to include a backing band, The War Eagles. Langhorne and The War Eagles play on Tuesday, May 27 at The Mad Planet, but if it seems like déjà vu, it's because they were just there on March 29.

Langhorne says the March gig was just one of the several add-on stops along the long haul home from Austin's SXSW Music Festival. But let there be no confusion -- Tuesday's performance is a part of the official Langhorne Slim tour for the new self-titled full-length, released April 29 on Kemado Records.

"But we can come to Milwaukee every few months if you want," he jokes.

Langhorne actually has a personal connection to Milwaukee, as it's the hometown of his drummer Malachi DeLorenzo (the son of Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo). He tells us he has plans to spend Memorial Day Milwaukee style -- at the DeLorenzo family cookout.

Langhorne says his long-term collaboration with DeLorenzo and The War Eagles' other half, upright bass player Paul Defiglia, was an unexpected one, but has evolved organically since recording 2004's debut "When the Sun's Gone Down."

"I was playing solo at the time and I wanted to put together a band just for the record. I didn't intent for it to be my band four years later but we met and got along very well and it felt great playing with them and I assume they felt the same way about me, so now, four years later, here we are."

The second album -- he's also put out two EPs: 2004's "Electric Love Letter" and 2006's "Engine" -- is a strikingly cohesive mash-up of roots rock, banjo blues and a punk rock sense of humor. Standouts like "Diamonds and Gold" dish traditional wisdom: "You can have all the diamonds, you can have all the gold, but someday you're still going to get old." Others, like "Rebel Side of Heaven," playfully revel in the consequences of hedonistic sin.

If it sounds a bit weighted, the song's horn-heavy up tempo supplies the appropriate amount of party to pardon the lofty lyrics. Langhorne just likes to have a happy good time. A storyteller at heart, his live performances are often enhanced by clever improvisational word play that often evolve his album versions into drawn-out ramblings that may or may not include reoccurring references to the Grateful Dead.

"That's just how I do it," he says. "I'm not a technically talented guitar player where I can wail on improvised solos. My talent is more lyrical, so I'm able to do that. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work and you just look like an ass."

Hear what stories Langhorne and friends have to share this Tuesday, May 27 at The Mad Planet. The show starts at 9 p.m. with Builders and Butchers and Atlatl opening.