Popular Songs

Playing like a welcome sequel to 2006's style-hopping I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, Yo La Tengo's 16th studio album finds the New Jersey trio bringing out Farfisa solos and celebrating ongoing couplehood. On genial uptempo songs like the string-laden "If It's True," long-married duo Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan find knowing nonchalance amid niggling troubles, and they assert continued fealty on the warm fuzz-drone "More Stars Than There Are in Heaven." Elsewhere, Yo La Tengo run from pretty acoustic sketches ("When It's Dark") to the 16-minute noise freakout "And the Glitter Is Gone," mixing up disparate sounds, if for no other reason than it feels good.