One of our cleverest, hardest-working, most underrated songwriters returns after four years with a characteristic grab bag of brilliance and goofi ness, novelty and philosophy—often, if not consistently, all at the same time. From poignant St. Mark’s Placeset character sketch “Scowling Crackhead Ian” to the Yiddish-strewn, tour de force Poe rewrite “The Pigeon,” Je ffrey Lewis’ beloved New York is a predictably prominent presence in these songs, without quite rising to the level of “concept” suggested by the title.
His growing tendency toward quiet rumination manifests in a few less distinctive, albeit musically pretty moments, mostly examining variously unsettled mental states—he could just as aptly have named the album Psychology—plus curiously elliptical eight-minute drone poem “Back To Manhattan,” a Zen-like break-up song that stubbornly sidesteps its emotional payo . But there’s always another quirky, scraggly, folk-punky curveball—like utterly genius/batshit nerd-out “Have A Baby”— waiting around the corner.
—K. Ross Ho ffman
