There Is No Enemy

Built to Spill CEO Doug Martsch is alt-rock's Thomas Pynchon, holed up in a remote studio (Boise, Idaho) and issuing immaculate artworks when he damnwell pleases. His latest is classic latter-day BTS, a crystal palace ofrefracting guitar tones and textures, walls rising majestically above hissweet, nasal mewl. What's on Martsch's mind? What you'd expect from a dudespending lots of time in his head: dreams, boredom, life's meaning or lackthereof. Those seeking the naive concision of earlier records will bedisappointed: Most songs sprawl near five minutes or longer. But theircomponents are all about simple melodic beauty, writ large — prog-rock for pop purists.