A.C. Newman

Get Guilty

[2.5/5]

A.C. Newman doesn’t need to surround himself with the rest of the New Pornographers to make arresting pop music; his fantastic 2004 solo album, The Slow Wonder, proved as much. So it’s surprising how generally lukewarm the music is on Newman’s sophomore effort, Get Guilty. Dragging tempos, off-key sounds and repetitive arrangements abound, most egregiously on the limping “Thunderbolts.” Even vocal sweetness from Mates Of State and Nicole Atkins and typically vivid percussion from Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster doesn’t always make Guilty’s sugary, organ-whirled indie-pop very memorable. The mincing dream-waltz “Young Atlantis,” off-kilter “The Collected Works” and ’60s-haunted power-pop “All Of My Days & All Of My Days Off” start to redeem the album-unfortunately, those are the last three songs. (MATADOR; matadorrecords.com) Annie Zaleski