Hot Wax

Years of addiction tend to obscure 's considerable strengths as a songwriter, a situation not helped by his erratic post- work. After 1999's , drifted away, spending some time as a musician for hire but generally existing outside the spotlight, taking a full decade to return with , his third solo album and easily his richest collection of songs to date. hasn't abandoned the buzzing guitars that have defined much of his music since the days of , but he's certainly downplayed them, preferring to ramp up a latent baroque pop obsession and spend some quiet, intimate moments with just a keyboard or two. There's variety here, and also craft, a bracing and overdue reminder that there were two excellent songwriters in . ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine