Cass McCombs – Heartmind

On "Heartmind," Cass McCombs enters the double-digit album phase of his career, a quantitatively rare place for any songwriter; even rarer, however, is the fact that he doesn't yet seem to have settled into a quality sound or pattern of singing the same thought twice (or maybe even once). Songs like "Karaoke" are a divine burst of power-pop perfection, as stirring as anything Cass has ever written. The bouncy staccato guitar, the vaporized electric keys, the melody made for singing along, clapping along or dancing along, Cass has carved out a place of his own between The Go-Betweens, The dB's and The Cure, vibrating there like a beacon.