Watch vocalist Beth Musolff’s face the next time you have a chance to catch the Wisconsin-bred band You’re Pretty.

Make eye contact, and you will be enthralled. She’ll be sporting a facial expression somewhere between that of a small child waking up on Christmas morning and that of a Spin senior editor holding the latest promotional copy of anything Radiohead.

And then, almost without warning, Musolff’s eyes will close, and the rest of the melodic heavy quartet – guitarist Steve Kern, bassist Chris S. and drummer Dave Keckeisen – will erupt with feral intensity as she lets loose with Tori Amos-like vocal delivery.

“I don’t know if we’re consciously trying to set a mood,” Musolff says. “I just try to react to the music – with my eyes and my face . If somebody is really connecting, I will hone in on them.”

After being together for three years now, the members of You’re Pretty seem to function like a single organism.

“Everybody’s in sync with everybody else,” Musolff explains.

Of course, after playing about 100 shows in 2000 that spanned the U.S. from New York to Los Angeles, You’re Pretty has had plenty of opportunity to enhance and perfect their already powerful stage presence.

“I know there are certain points in each set where Steve and Chris (guitar and bass), they do drops and jumps at the same time,” Musolff says. “That just happens upon playing shows, and we videotape a lot of them and watch them – kind of like what football players do.”

However, You’re Pretty hasn’t been compiling the big playbook of rock `n’ roll as they have racked up show after show.

“Some of those [coordinated jumps] happen on accident, and [Steve and Chris] are like, `Oh, that is really cool,’ so they do it every time,” Musolff says. “Other than that, there is nothing choreographed.”

Each member of the band emerges from backstage with two basic goals – embody the intensity of the music and rock the crowd. But there is a perception, Musolff says, that You’re Pretty is a goth band, a label they have shied away from.

“A lot of people think we’re very dark and we’re back lighting candles in front of an altar,” she explains. “God, no, we’re just silly, goofy people drinking and laughing until, `Oh, it’s time to play.'”

And play they have, including three showcases in L.A. and one in New York. Though the members of You’re Pretty may seem like seasoned rock veterans, this has not always been the case.

“We were really new at it, as of 2000,” Musolff says.

But playing around two shows a week has helped the band mature in ways that fans and friends have noticed.

“We’re just more roadworthy right now, I think,” Musolff says. “Nothing surprises of throws us.

“Like our last show in Chicago, it was a very small stage, and for some reason, vibrations from either the drums or the bass made the whole cabinet fall,” she says. “We just looked at it, kept playing, picked it up. It didn’t even bother us.”

Much of this experience and growth has carried over onto the band’s second full-length album, “Beautiful Accident,” which was released on March 10.

“Plus the songwriting too, people have said, has grown,” Musolff says. “One comment I’ve heard is, `We can tell you’ve been on the road.'”

You’re Pretty’s self-titled album was very much a personal, intimate journey through the singer’s intense emotions, punctuated by Kern’s stunning guitar noise, Chris’ jazz-inflected bass lines and Keckeisen’s explosive drumming.

“Beautiful Accident” reveals a different face of You’re Pretty, featuring more heavy balladry and much less anger.

“That was actually purposeful,” Musolff explains. “I did kinda not want to be this angry, dark girl, and we were just getting so pigeonholed into goth and directions I was not happy with at all.”

So You’re Pretty, as any good band would, evolved, rewriting and reworking songs to push past the tendency to just make another album about Musolff’s feelings.

“A lot of people say they weren’t sure the first time they heard it, and it just grew on them,” she says. “I don’t know how to react to that because we spent so much more time in the studio, and so much more energy.”

In fact, the band spent seven weeks chronicling their road exploits on tape, far more than the six days spent on the “161-EP” and the two weeks spent on the first album.

“It’s the story of the past year for the band and for me,” Musolff says.

And apparently, it is also becoming the story of You’re Pretty fans new and old.

“We’re getting a lot of newer fans, which is cool,” Musolff says. “And a lot of older fans like it and they’re getting used to it. Everybody’s like that – you see the artist and you want to hear the old songs.”

With the first album selling out, and t-shirt supplies running out, You’re Pretty is finally showing a profit (which is going toward a new van), something a lot of unsigned bands can’t claim.

And the quartet has also managed not to do something else a lot of other bands can’t resist – sign with a major.

“We have gotten more calls and more interest,” Musolff says. “We’re trying to gain the upper hand and show that we can do this ourselves.

“Because when you get signed, and so many bands do this, you get screwed, basically,” she adds. “If we’re doing it on our own, we’ll go from there. But if we need some help, we’ll look to labels.”

But Musolff is itching to write more songs and get back up on stage. And who knows, she might even look at you and smile.

“It’s always better when you have this great reaction and the kids are jumping around and getting on stage and singing with you,” Musolff explains. “Your energy is going to be more because you’re feeding off of that.”