Intelligence Everybody'S Got It Easy But Me CD

2012 release from the veteran Indie band, the brainchild of Lars Finberg (formerly of A-Frames, currently of Thee Oh Sees and Wounded Lion). with Everybody's Got It Easy But Me, The Intelligence top themselves. As with their previous album, Males from 2010, they returned to the Hangar with Chris Woodhouse to record, and they continue to jettison their deliberately blown-out, lo-fi recording approach for a much clearer sound. Not that there's any loss of intensity. The band's scrambling post-punk guitars, dry-as-a-bone drums and laconically abstract verses are all here, viewed through an unusually clear lens. If one didn't have the songs or the chops, this sort of thing could reveal weakness but here it highlights their knack for catchy songs that incorporate pop hooks, metronomically repetitive guitar riffs, and new wavey synth moves.

1. I Like la 2. Hippy Provider 3. Evil Is Easy 4. Techno Tuesday 5. The Entertainer 6. Reading and Writing About Partying 7. Dim Limelights 8. (They Found Me on the Back of) the Galaxy 9. I'm Closed 10. Little Town Flirt 11. Return to Foam 12. Sunny Backyard 13. Fidelity