The Breakup Society

Nobody Likes A Winner

[4/5]

Expanding on their titular thesis, the Breakup Society continue to explore heartbreak and disappointment on the follow-up to James At 35, but with a twist. Where singer/guitarist Ed Masley’s post-Frampton Brothers 2004 debut delivered a power-pop concept album about lovelorn adults mired in emotional post-adolescence, Nobody Likes A Winner is more of attitudinal piece. Not strictly yoked to a narrative arc or power-pop sound, Masley toys with countrypolitan on the reverb-soaked “This Little Tragedy” and Beatles-tinged, baroque pop on “How Failure Saved Me From Myself.” The latter is a centerpiece both sonically and emotionally, weaving the theme of self-delusion and self-sabotage into 14 tracks still chiefly concerned with relational dysfunction. Masley’s wit scores with the wonderfully delivered epigram on a metaphorical versus “Strictly Biological Heart” and “By A Thread,” which profiles a bitter obituary watcher. Still, their moneymaker remains jangling pop/new wave like “Didn’t Mean To Wreck Your Day,” buoyed by an undertone of ’50s rock innocence. (GET HIP; gethip.com) Chris Parker