Smog is a thinking man's band with deep lyrics and occasional fits of passion over an otherwise calm and reasoned veneer.

Still, singer Bill Callahan knows how to bait a hook.

So, meet Smog if you don't know them. They're glad to play for you. Or are they glad about anything? There's anger here, be warned.

Those familiar with the band will be pleased.

Like Giant Sand, in roughly the same quasi-folk-country-rock genre, Smog is getting better and better. The song Bloodflow is a frenzied, Native American-sounding experiment, kind of like Paul Simon but kind of totally not. More like Robbie Robertson with more subtlety. It pounds away at you and gets your attention with a chorus group named the Dongettes.

Dress Sexy at my Funeral almost sounds like a nice song, but it's kind of mean: "Dress sexy at my funeral, my good wife, for the first time in your life."

See what I mean? It's catchy, like something caught that refuses to be released. Just sits there in your head for too long, as does the whispery Distance.

Callahan rides a simple formula. He picks a sound, say drums or a guitar or, maybe, a sad-sounding piano riff and plays them quietly, letting his voice do the work. Then he drowns himself out.

Well, that's how it works a lot of the time. And it works well a lot of the time.

Life's not always so good. We hit walls, we lose people, we get lost ourselves.

That's what Callahan's saying here, but in saying so he begins the process of understanding, healing and nullification. If you've hit a wall, this album can get you over it. Or you can sit and stew in the minimalist broth for a while.

It's all the same 10,000 years from now.

Track Listing 1.Justice Aversion
  02.Dress Sexy At My Funeral
  03.Strayed
  04.The Hard Road
  05.Easily Led
  06.Bloodflow
  07.Nineteen
  08.Distance
  09.Devotion
  10.Cold Discovery
  11.Permanent Smile