The Massed Albert Sounds

Weston has a bit of an identity crisis. On the quartet’s sixth album, this Pennsylvania band is torn between being snarky, tongue-in-cheek power-poppers and tortured, angry rockers. Fortunately, they’re pretty damn good at both roles, and the confusion never really undermines The Massed Albert Sounds. On dynamic flare-ups like “To Some I’m A Genius“ and lush, temperamental gems like “Wonderdrug,“ Weston exorcises its misery with a barrage of cathartic guitar-rock. Cynical jaunts like “I Just Quit Rock ‘N’ Roll“ and “Liz Phair“ (an are-they-serious ode to the indie-rock prom queen) are a little formulaic, but they do show that the band is perfectly happy dropping the pathos and just having fun. In some ways, the more playful numbers come off as an apology for the emotional earnestness that seeps out of the rest of the album. But with the overwhelming glut of angst-ridden rockers out there constantly exhorting us to feel their pain, it’s nice to see some guys encouraging us to laugh at theirs.