The Clean - Mister Pop (2009)

Despite the eight-year layoff since Getaway, Mister Pop effectively picks up right where we left off, with a pair of warm-up exercises-- the metronomic organ-grinding jam "Loog" and the possibly self-referential dream-pop ditty "Are You Really on Drugs?"-- that feel like vapor-trail echoes of its predecessor's distended, psychedelic haze. Even in light of the Clean's lo-fi legacy, the tracks feel demo-grade, built on single ideas that, while lasting only three minutes each, still feel run into the ground, begging the question of whether eight years was actually long enough for the song reservoir to replenish itself again. But such quibbles are cast aside 30 seconds into "In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul", a headlight-bright jangle-pop pleaser (possibly about the new Beatles reissues?) that boasts all the hallmarks of classic Clean. On another track, David Kilgour makes an even more explicit reinforcement of Mister Pop's return-to-form intent: over a paisley-toned, mod-rock swing, he repeats, "It puts me right back in the day."

Music here