Arriving just over a year after the excellent , is 's attempt to sum up where it has been on its previous albums and strike out in new directions at the same time. These contradictory impulses result in an album that's a musical tug-of-war: while many of ' tracks sound like pleasant but not especially distinctive reworks of songs, there are almost as many that suggest is moving in some intriguing new directions. While there's nothing inherently wrong with ' good-natured or 's atmospheric, Asian-influenced , it tends to sound like slight variations on 's and the band's breakout hit respectively. Unfortunately, this problem plagues a good portion of the album: songs like the pretty but vague and the meandering sound underdeveloped, like outtakes from with all of that album's tension and weirdness removed. also suffers from some strange sequencing: most of its quieter numbers are placed near the beginning of the album and the louder tracks are dumped anticlimactically near the end. Compounding the problem is the album's somewhat subdued production, which gives an overly detached feeling to potentially powerful tracks like Still, ' best songs make it a difficult album to dismiss entirely; and, as with the previous album, 's bright, fresh-sounding vocals are at least partly responsible for some of its most distinctive moments. is one of 's best songs to date, with junkyard percussion and flitting electronics providing a bouncy, playful showcase for 's vocals. Likewise, is equal parts beauty and whimsy, a mix of traditional Japanese music, , and a bit of . They're different than anything has tried before, suggesting a new realm of possibilities for the band. Other tracks offer more subtle innovations: the swooningly romantic duet and the title track wander into love song territory, while the sleek, creepy reveals a newfound flair for the dramatic. Meanwhile, songs like and bookend the album with the immediacy and bite that is largely missing from the rest of the album. As promising as it is inconsistent, may not be 's strongest album, but it's still a fairly interesting one. ~ Heather Phares