Decades after 1992's , the solo debut that let the world know was one of America's great songwriters, the man has little if anything to prove, but he doesn't have to rest on his laurels. For 2024's , has taken a truly idiosyncratic look at his own songbook. He cut new, radically different versions of 14 songs from his back catalog. Reportedly, had traveled to Italy to cut a set of fresh tunes with and , who collaborated with on his 2018 album , but at the last minute he came up with the idea of re-interpreting some of his older compositions instead, though fans can be excused for not recognizing all of 's oldies. A few of these songs are genuinely obscure, but even the best-known tracks get a truly thorough reworking, with scratchy guitars, lo-fi keyboards, and vintage drum machines often dominating the arrangements, making much of this seem like 's long-lost new wave or synth-punk LP. Tracks like "Sacramento & Polk" and "Wave" sound as if , and were aiming to be eccentric for its own sake (especially the former, which could pass as a B-side for 's "Warm Leatherette"), though the more spare and atmospheric tone of "Outside Your Door" and "Last to Know" (dominated by droning keyboards and minimal electronic drones, confirming 's statement that was a major influence on him) fit the songs well while also casting them in a bold new light. The notion of making a lo-fi junkshop electronic album sounds even more unlikely than him covering his own songs for a full album, and while is uneven, the hits outnumber the misses by a margin that qualifies this as a successful experiment. That said, given how well he and his collaborators take to this approach, perhaps this would have been an even better LP if he'd come up with a set of original songs purpose-built to these. is a great interpreter, but he's an even better songwriter. ~ Mark Deming