In 2007, this Brooklyn outfit released a daft orchestral-rock remake of Black Flag's Damaged — recorded, its members boasted, without hearing the original for 15 years. A similar sense of accidental discovery governs the band's fifth disc — jagged riffs, distortion and fragrant folk melodies ride curveball beats that evoke TV on the Radio or doo-wop or Afro pop. Add Dave Longstreth's and Amber Coffman's chamber-chorale-on-Red Bull vocals and you have ample art-rock zaniness. It's at once attention-deficient and micromanaged, exhilarating and aggravating. Unsurprisingly, the relaxed moments work best, like the aging hipster's gripe "Stillness Is the Move."

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JON DOLAN

(Posted: May 26, 2009)