TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:

That is FRESH AIR. On the subject of rock music with literary aptitude, rock critic Ken Tucker thinks you possibly can’t do a lot better than the band known as The Paranoid Type. They seem to be a Washington, D.C.-based group that is been making music since 2012, led by songwriter and lead singer Elizabeth Nelson. She’s additionally a music critic who’s been revealed in locations like The New Yorker and The New York Occasions. The Paranoid Type’s new album is known as “The Interrogator.” Here is Ken’s assessment.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LAST NIGHT IN CHICKENTOWN”)

THE PARANOID STYLE: (Singing) From the final of the ninth to the trundling haze to the genie in tights, the experimental section. I do not cease at lights. I do not sleep for days. I have been seeing the sights. Child, I am amazed – final night time in Chickentown.

KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: The signature sound of The Paranoid Type is the voice of songwriter Elizabeth Nelson – a certain, agency tone clearly enunciating the cascade of phrases that fill out each lyric. Most frequently half-sung, half-spoken, Nelson’s declarative sentences reveal themselves to be artfully composed verse full of wordplay, jokes and an undercurrent of great dread.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ARE YOU LOATHSOME TONIGHT?”)

THE PARANOID STYLE: (Singing) I am struck on the beating coronary heart of one other dangerous event I am unable to ignore. And I am unable to parse the sluggish disintegration. Savoy truffles finely bake minds. Media kerfuffles – are you loathsome tonight? The skin is dim. The silhouettes are slithering. Every little thing you liked has grown hidebound and withering. Did you struggle out of ardour? Or was it simply obligation? Imagine me. I understand how to vouchsafe a nation – plenty of incidents, plenty of conditions. One has its doubts about varied holidays. Time grows quick, and time is tight. One final look – are you loathsome tonight? Are you loathsome tonight?

TUCKER: That is “Are You Loathsome Tonight?” And, sure, this band is certainly named after Richard Hofstadter’s 1964 essay “The Paranoid Type In American Politics.” I suppose you possibly can name The Paranoid Type a cult band consisting of people that learn books and take heed to loads of music that wasn’t simply recorded within the earlier yr. That is the band’s second album in a row that namechecks P.G. Wodehouse, now with the added bonus point out of one other nice humorist, S.J. Perelman. It is a surprise she did not name the music “P.G. And S.J.” The interrogator additionally continues a mini custom of contorting different artists music titles. On their final album, the band inverted The Eagles to provide us “The Worst Of My Love.” On the brand new one, they take Nick Lowe’s title “I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass” and supply a extra political various, “I Love The Sound Of Structured Class.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I LOVE THE SOUND OF STRUCTURED CLASS”)

THE PARANOID STYLE: (Singing) Sitting on the entrance porch, nonetheless ready on the lifeline from the sort of of us who share opinions like mine. I’ve hung out in training. I’ve hung out in jail. I’ve drunk from the river basin. I’ve skied in Vail. Time in capsules, Vitamin C. All people is aware of that is nowhere however me. Everybody is aware of that is Valhalla or bust, an unliving will and a residing distrust. Sympathy for the satan is the final of your issues. Bow right down to your degree, and attend to your burns. I’ve seen sturdy males crying out for assist. I’ve pulled books from a really excessive shelf. The following time you name me, make sure that it is essential – withering on the vine, residing by appointment. Everybody’s outnumbered, and nobody has a previous. I really like the sound of structured class.

TUCKER: All of this garrulousness may simply change into coy and tiresome, however Nelson’s outstanding vary of references hold all the things buzzing together with each vigor and rigor. And, oh, yeah, there’s the music. That is The Paranoid Type’s most tuneful album up to now, not less than partly due to its new lead guitarist, Peter Holsapple, co-founder of the good pop rock band The dB’s. Nelson, Holsapple and the remainder of the band, together with Nelson’s guitarist husband Timothy Bracy, hit a peak of enjoyment with the guitar solo in the midst of a music known as “The Ballad Of Pertinent Data.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE BALLAD OF PERTINENT INFORMATION”)

THE PARANOID STYLE: (Singing) Burned within the hearth, hung in a cell there are oh so many dudes who assume they get me so properly. Flip it on. I acquired some belongings you’ll need to see. Flip it on – a mire of ecstasy. Flip it on. I’ve tampered with the occasional witness. Flip it on. I am not within the pleasure enterprise. Flip it on. I would like entry to all the things – flip it on – from the daybreak of man to the ultimate gathering. Flip it on. I like the truth that you are so tall. Flip it on. I like the best way you maintain a stone. Flip it on.

TUCKER: Elizabeth Nelson says on one other music right here, one thing about rock ‘n’ roll makes me defensive, and you possibly can hear a lot of “The Interrogator” as an album-length justification for believing that an artist can put something she thinks about, believes in and needs into the lyric and melody of a three-minute rock music with out sacrificing any diploma of complexity or emotion. To take heed to Nelson and The Paranoid Type work out such an argument over the course of 13 compositions is what makes spending loads of time with this album so rewarding.

MOSLEY: Ken Tucker reviewed the album “The Interrogator” by The Paranoid Type. To maintain up with what’s on the present and to get highlights of our interviews, comply with us on Instagram at @NPRFreshAir. FRESH AIR’S government producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and critiques are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Ann Marie Baldonado, Therese Madden, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelley and Susan Nyakundi. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. I am Tonya Mosley.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “STYLES MAKE FIGHTS”)

THE PARANOID STYLE: (Singing) Noticed you there with lengthy, blonde hair, noticed you bracing in the midst of the night time. By no means thought I might make it to the vice chair – mismatch on the web page. Your kinds made fights. I’d punch you between the eyes. I’d punch you within the unlawful zone. I’ll hang-out you day and night time to carry you my love. Kinds make fights. Kinds make fights just like the whale and martini (ph). Kinds make fights just like the Moosy-loosalini (ph). Kinds make fights that may’t left hand win, praying for oblivion. From the newest craze to the newest persecution, so many issues that Pitchfork acquired mistaken. Each probability they select provides up in disillusion and take (inaudible) rights. Kinds make fights. By the criminal of the neck and the ineffective residence, the very last thing you guess on was lower than one.

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