Just prior to the release of their debut, co-founder took a leave of absence from his longtime band. Struggling with addiction and fighting to face his demons, the singer/songwriter watched from the sidelines as hit number five on the pop charts and his bandmates toured the world without him. did eventually get sober, though he did not resume his role in , opting instead to document his soul journey with , his first solo album. As any songwriter well knows, periods of tumult and personal upheaval lead to reflection that when nurtured begets material of a particularly authentic nature. Working with member , who brought his own stable of musicians into the project, turned his reflections into a dramatic 12-song set that shares some of the indie folk exuberance of his previous band, but chases new muses as well. Tonally, the album's pendulum swings back and forth from rickety catharsis to strident chamber pop exultations as strings and horns shade life-affirming cuts like "False Alarms" and "Nobody Knows." On the more delicate end are songs like "Rise Up," in which 's ambling baritone urges inner transformation, or the sweetly hopeful closer, "Solve Problems," played entirely solo with just guitar and vocal. Along the way are curious snippets of dialogue, one of which, "Grandma," consists presumably of 's grandmother offering a sweetly affecting pep talk over an ambient soundscape. At its best, this debut is a joyful testament to coming out the other side of trauma, though at times, some of the arrangements rely a little too heavily on repetition, taking the album's title quite literally. Still, it's nice to hear step out on his own and deliver a meaningful set of songs. ~ Timothy Monger