While it’s easier than ever before to record songs and post them on the Internet, it’s still as difficult as ever—if not more difficult—to get people to care. The old model of bands writing, recording in the studio and touring, frankly, seems outdated when running up against computer-based music and the DJ culture of today. But, with a new CD just about finished and a small tour planned this spring, Tiny Whales are giving it a serious shot.

The Whales will release their second EP on Boston-based label Endless Recordings this month, and synth player and singer Ryan Kirchner promises that this one is even more synth-oriented than their first self-titled EP. If you’ve heard the debut record, or seen Tiny Whales live, you may find this hard to believe. The three band members have always been big-time believers in the synthesizer, a stylistic point that gives their catchy pop tunes a leg up on other songs out there. And now there’s going to be more synth?

“I guess it’s just more of the same, but it’s definitely a progression of what we had before,” Kirchner said of his band’s new songs. “We’ve also added the Vocoder to our arsenal.”

To celebrate, Tiny Whales will bring its huge synths to a CD release show at Bourbon’s on Friday, Feb. 22. The CD does not yet have a definitive name (“Tiny Whales II” has been kicked around, but Kirchner didn’t seem too enthused about that Zeppelin-esque title). Soon after, the band leaves for a three-week tour, kicking off at Piano’s in New York City and concluding at the Middle East in Cambridge on March 21.

Kirchner said the new EP is a step up from the Whales’ debut, at least partly due to the addition of bassist, singer and synth player Owen Thompson. After starting out as a four-piece act in 2004, the band has gone through several lineup changes. But Kirchner said the current incarnation feels right, giving the group a stability that was lacking early on.

“Each show we played, we had a new person. We were like, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t do this. Maybe we should go as a three-piece,’” Kirchner said. “If anything changes now, I don’t think there will be a Tiny Whales anymore.”

Thompson, who joined up last November, has shown his aptitude and taste for the avant-garde in several local bands over the years, among them Giant Bat, a frenetic noise duo that touched down in Portsmouth several years ago and is widely credited with bringing masks to the local scene. Thompson and Kirchner are equally accountable for the songwriting on the band’s forthcoming album, Kirchner said.

“We collaborated on most of the songs, but it’s kind of good that Owen could take the lead. I was not feeling creative,” Kirchner said. “He brought to the table exactly what we wanted.”

Recorded at Andrew Lane Studios in Eliot, Maine, the new CD will be self-marketed and limited to about 100 copies, Kirchner said. Though the Endless Recordings label will be stamped on the packaging, the disc will essentially be self-released. The plan is to record more songs when the tour is over and have a full-length recording out sometime in June.

Kirchner hopes to get about 100 people to show up for the CD release show—a high expectation for the Seacoast, where enthusiasm for local music seems to have flattened lately, he said. It’s not easy for Portsmouth bands to strong-arm their way into more expansive notoriety, but Tiny Whales are among the few local artists actually making some progress.

Like many area bands, Tiny Whales keep one foot in Portsmouth and the other in Boston, where drummer Matt Maybruke lives and scouts for shows. At least two nights a month are devoted to shows in Boston, where the band is steadily building momentum. But there is certainly some benefit to playing shows in the Dover/Portsmouth area instead of Boston, where show-goers are known for their lethargy, even when they’re excited about a band.

“Everyone dances and has fun (up here) because we know each other, but when we’re down in Boston, everyone does the standstill,” Kirchner said.

The upcoming tour, which begins on Friday, Feb. 29, marks the second time Tiny Whales has taken its song and dance on the road for a serious East Coast swing. The band’s first foray into the glory of smelly vans and gas-station cuisine came last spring and included many of the same cities.

While last year’s tour took them down to South Carolina, the band is going as far as Austin, Texas, this year. Tiny Whales’ original hope, Kirchner explained, was to wind up on a bill at South by Southwest, a music industry festival in Austin that is fertile ground for aspiring indie bands. That didn’t pan out, but Tiny Whales will instead play the RedGorilla Music Fest, a sort of festival within a festival planned to coincide with South by Southwest.

The band is also trying to get on a bill in Florida with popular New York crooners The Walkmen, and the tour wraps up at the Middle East with Brooklyn’s fuzzed-out and loud A Place to Bury Strangers and Canadians Holy Fuck, for whom the Whales have a lot of love.

“That’s like one of our favorite bands and we get to open for them, so that’s pretty exciting,” Kirchner said.

Tiny Whales’ Feb. 22 CD release show at the Muddy River will also feature Dover’s MJ-XII, a ferocious beast in its own right and one of the most interesting local bands out there. The three-piece act plays genre-obliterating instrumentals. (As a reference point, think Black Sabbath, Goblin’s soundtrack music and Pelican’s complex post-metal jams.) It’s progressive metal with heavy synth and tremendous head banging. Passion Pit of Cambridge will also play the release show.

Hopefully, Tiny Whales will have settled on a title for the new CD by then.

“It will definitely have a name, since we already have (an album) that doesn’t have a name,” Kirchner said.

Tiny Whales’ CD release show will be on Friday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. at Bourbon’s, 21 Congress St., 603-430-9582. For more info on the band, visit www.myspace.com/tinywhales.