Since 1986, the prolific Brooklyn duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell has never gone longer than a few years without an album release, recently swaying from kids’ albums to grown-up ones. They Might Be Giants’ latest is decidedly in the latter camp—even though there’s still plenty of goofiness in songs like the title track, “McCafferty’s Bib,” and “The Greatest.” From light to dark, day-job diatribe “Let’s Get This Over With” offers a gospel-esque opener with cheery 4/4 handclaps, while “By The Time You Get This” is about as bleak as the band ever gets, even as the song looks toward a hopefully idyllic future (“We’ll no longer be alive / When the evils that we faced will at last be laid to rest”). “Lake Monsters” gives rocking sci-fi tribute to mysterious beasts that should please longtime fans, “The Bright Side” borrows from the ’60s British Invasion, and “Push Back The Hands” also turns sweetly nostalgic—though there’s no need for looking backward just yet, as the TMBG song machine is still operating at full force.
RIYL: Accordions. Quirk. Mythological creatures. The ’90s.
Start here: The surreal anthem “I Left My Body” is as hooky as “Birdhouse In Your Soul,” with the added advantage of some incredibly catchy guitar.
Grade: B