On this album-length sequel to last year's The Stage Names, these Austin indie rockers continue to dissect the looking-glass emptiness of life spent on the stage, as well as in the cheap seats. "Fuck long hours, sick with singing," frontman Will Sheff sings over slow-building, mariachi-style blues on "Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979," a boozy, post-fame portrait of the late gay glam rocker Jobraith.

Like its predecessor, The Stand Ins also continues to stretch the band's mopey sound. "Lost Coastlines" trips along on a sprightly Motown groove. "Starry Stairs" is a Smiths ringer punched up with Stax/Volt horn charts. Maybe most surprising is "Pop Lie," an Eighties-style power-pop rocker that rails at "the liar who lied in his pop song" — a character that might just be Sheff. And on the melodramatic "On Tour With Zykos," a song about a fleeting hookup, the singer channels a fan who guilt-trips over smoking bowls and watching TV when she should be making great art. But with The Stand Ins, dude is providing an excellent role model.