Am I mistaken that Kitten used to be harder-edged? From the sounds of “Like A Stranger,” the title track to a new EP out this week, the L.A. outfit has filed down their sharp claws and polished them up with a synthpop gloss.

Couple that new coat with frontwoman Chloe Chaidez’s expressive shifts — from whisper to exuberant yelp — and “Like A Stranger” wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Maybe this isn’t typical Kitten, but this is a sound I can listen to all through the night, time after time.

Purchase Kitten – “Like A Stranger” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.