Josh Tyrangiel
This bluesy wallop of an album is filled with songs about grotesques, but there’s no danger of its turning into a rock-opera Winesburg, Ohio. That’s because front man E (Mark Oliver Everett) chooses humor over bathos (“Ma won’t shave me, Jesus can’t save me,” he growls on the superb Dog Faced Boy). Which is not to say he’s snide; Friendly Ghost and Woman Driving, Man Sleeping are as sweet as anything in the James Taylor songbook–they’re just not saccharine. The lyrics float over an array of power chords, samples, overdubs and scratches–no two songs sound alike–but it’s not musical bricolage. Just the best album so far this year.
–J.T.
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