may be best known as the leader of indie pop heroes , but the talented performer, producer, and songwriter has also pursued a solo career that gained a new strength in the 2010s, with releasing the thoughtful and ambitious in 2012, and following it in 2015 with one of his most eclectic and effective efforts to date, . The album's 11 songs cover a broad spectrum of musical styles, ranging from lo-fi pop ("Every Song Sung to a Dog") and minimalist bedroom folk ("Monster Movie") to horn-driven rock ("Expo '87") and coolly evocative electronics soundscapes ("Doggie"), while the lyrics find baring his soul as well as pondering the state of a chaotic world. presents a vision that's artful, passionate, and intelligent, and it's a powerful reminder that is one of the truly individual artists on the indie music scene. ~ Mark Deming