The three musicians in 2 Foot Yard — violinist Carla Kihlstedt, cellist Marika Hughes and drummer Shahzad Ismaily — are overflowing with talent, as their thick resumes and busy, jet-setting schedules attest. To the extent that the thoughtful, complex songs on their recent album Borrowed Arms (Yard Work) could be considered “pop,” they succeed on that count, too — even if they don’t stand a chance of topping the charts anytime soon.

“You don’t think we’ll make the Billboard Top 10?!” Hughes asks with mock incredulity, aware of the dim commercial prospects for a self-released album of complex, literate songs that no one knows how to categorize. “Actually, I think we have come to understand some of our aesthetic as a band as having a pop element. We all love pop — it’s not a bad word. Marvin Gaye, Aretha, Stevie Wonder, Bjork have all had popular hits.”

Whatever you call it, the group’s music has a widescreen sound that surpasses what you’d expect based on the sparse instrumentation. It helps that Kihlstedt and Hughes are both outstanding singers with big, room-filling voices, while Ismaily is a multi-instrumentalist who can handle electric guitar, bass, accordion — you name it. At the same time, the group’s sound also reflects its members’ diverse backgrounds, which include stints with everyone from Mary J. Blige to Tom Waits to theatrical art-metal outfit Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (of which Kihlstedt is a founding and current member). In fact, as Hughes was answering questions for this interview, Ismaily was in the studio recording an album with Jolie Holland, while Kihlstedt was in Europe with avant-garde guitarist Fred Frith.

If there are reference points for 2 Foot Yard’s music, they might be found in Bjork or Waits, at least in terms of the balance between experimentation, engaging songwriting and left-of-center arrangements. Of course, in 2 Foot Yard’s case, those odd arrangements are inevitable given their lineup. How do they pull it off? Hughes replies, “We definitely don’t feel limited by our instrumentation. We try to serve the tune rather than any preconceived idea of what each instrument is ‘supposed’ to do.”

Then again, toying with convention is something these musicians are used to. “As string players,” Hughes explains, “Carla and I are using our instruments in non-traditional ways, so already there are no rules.”