I avoided this LP for…well, for quite a while, based on a few half-read capsule reviews I encountered over the years, and what I always considered a fairly pretentious cover photo (it is, to be sure, but I appreciate it for what it is now). Yeah, his third solo LP is a bit of a departure from his previous work in that it offers thoughtful, occasionally-slow and often quiet eerie tunes driven by simple drum machine rhythms and fretless bass. No schlagers like “Cars” or “We Are Glass,” here, rather, meditations, sketches, impressions. He’s finding his way and picking out an unlikely path.

It’s not my favorite album of his (that would either be “Replicas” or “Telekon,” depending on my mood) but it’s intriguing and elusive and just what I want on a gray, ominous Friday evening when the marine layer descends over the Bay and I assess the day’s events.