Twelve years ago, when Winnipeg's Crash Test Dummies first signed to BMG Music Canada, Brad Roberts' public persona was that of a musical anomaly.

Much was made of Roberts' honours degree from the U of W, of the fact that his band was signed on the basis of the first five songs he wrote and that he was unafraid to dot his carefully crafted lyrics with philosophical and literary allusions.

As the band's first single, Superman's Song, became a No. 1 Canadian single, media stories on Roberts focused on his penchant for speaking in (gasp!) full sentences and paragraphs.

When the band's second album, God Shuffled His Feet, sold six million copies and sprouted a No. 1 single in Mmm Mmm Mmm, the U.S. media regurgitated the 'quirky egghead' line.

What was often overlooked by the likes of People, US, and Rolling Stone was Roberts' bawdy sense of humour, his profound sense of the absurd -- and his growing awareness of all aspects of the music business, from songcraft to marketing.

By the time the Dummies last album, Give Yourself a Hand, rolled around, it seemed Brad had figured out his public image was not necessarily all that 'cool.'

So he set about changing it -- delving into R&B, funk and disco grooves and talking openly about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll in interviews. He began swearing onstage and concluded shows with a vampy sendup of Britney Spears' Baby ... One More Time. He even wore women's underwear underneath his stage gear.

If his antics were intended to shock, they did. Many Dummies' fans were turned off by the faux-funk grooves and didn't get the campy absurdity of the show.

Nevertheless, the move was a good one for Roberts.

He shed his old skin, adopted a new persona and basically gave himself room to do whatever he wanted without the burden of baggage or expectations.

Which brings us to the new Crash Test Dummies album, I Don't Care That You Don't Mind -- an intimate, twanging collection of 14 songs that should once and for all sweep away any lingering preconceptions about the Dummies and Roberts.

First things first -- Crash Test Dummies, in its current incarnation, is Brad Roberts.

I Don't Care ... came in the wake of near-fatal car accident Roberts was in last September near Argyle, N.S., where he has a summer home with his girlfriend.

Taking a turn at speed (though under the limit, he says), Roberts' old Cadillac touched gravel and flipped into the ditch. He found himself on his back in an upside-down vehicle, his arm broken and dangling useless beside him.

"I kicked out the windshield with my boots and then a passerby, James Stephens, came along and pulled me out just before the car burst into flames," Roberts, 36, recalls. "I was that close, man. That close."

Faced with a long recuperation (and a court case, since dismissed, for pot possession based on the contents of his pockets), Roberts chose to stay in Nova Scotia to convalesce.

"But I got bored," he says. "So I said to my girlfriend 'I want to make a band. Who do you know?' "

Drummer Danny MacKenzie, bassist Dave Morton and guitarist Kent Greene are lobster fishermen most of the year. But they have also been playing music all their lives -- and it was they who ended up in Greene's little studio near Argyle, recording 10 of the 14 tunes on I Don't Care...

"It was great," Roberts says. "Danny plays drums with brushes. Dave is a standup bassist and I had this old, '72 Fender Jaguar guitar that I was getting a great twanging sound from. I started writing songs based around this sound and one thing led to another. We drank, recorded and had a ball ... and I thought I had my first solo album."

Once he returned home to New York City in December, Roberts played the tracks for his former manager, Jeff Rogers, now head of artist development for V2 Records. Rogers was enthusiastic.

Dummies singer/keyboardist Ellen Reid flew in to record backing vocals and help Roberts finish up four other tunes. Brad's bassist brother Dan dug the album and wanted to tour behind it, as did drummer Mitch Dorge -- so that "solo album" quickly became a Crash Test Dummies project, even though Reid is the only other Dummy on the album.

"Using the band name makes it a lot easier to get bookings and sales," says Roberts. "And I'm very enthusiastic about it. This is the best record I think I've ever done ... but of course I've said that about every record I've ever done."

Jeff Rogers tells a slightly different tale than Brad.

"Brad came to me and said these were the best songs he'd ever written, which I'd never heard him say before," Rogers recalls from his New York office.

"And when I listened to it, I agreed. To be honest, I don't know when the last time was that I listened to a Dummies record and just enjoyed it for its own sake. I always had to deconstruct them and figure out how to market and sell them, so I was never listening to them just for fun. And this is fun, you know?"

Indeed it is.

I Don't Care That You Don't Mind should demolish the perception that Roberts and the Dummies are a cerebral, quirky pop act. These are intelligent songs but they don't try too hard to be. They're relaxed, rootsy and feature Brad's voice in a way that hasn't been heard since The Ghosts That Haunt Me.

"It was fun to make and it will be fun to take on the road," says Roberts. "I have a new policy, too. Rather than dictating how every note will be played, I'm just going to let everyone play their own parts and see where it goes."

Keyboardist Reid likes the premise and the songs.

"It's very stripped down -- and I'm going to do an interlude of my own songs," she says, adding an EP of her material will be sold at shows, as will CDs from an acoustic tour Brad did with guitarist Murray Pulver.

"To say we're going back to square one would make things sound like we're back-pedalling." Reid says. "And saying we're going back to our roots is just so cliche. I just think it'll be a real high-energy show and album."

Rogers feels casual fans may be surprised.

"But I think that this is a record that every person who really loved the Dummies will just love once more."

Though Roberts no doubt hopes his new music will strike chords with people, he also says he isn't sure what will happen.

"Look, I know this isn't very trendy," he says. "I've got no f---ing clue whether we'll sell any records or whether anyone will like it. But on one level I don't care."

And we don't mind.