Grandaddy: Sumday

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * * *)

The memorable 2000 last effort from these weirdy, beardy Californians The Sophtware Slump was a conceptual affair, something about how the computer-wired life was not a good thing for the soul.

Set to a mix of playful electronica and languid country-rock, it elevated Grandaddy to the New American Psychedelia front ranks, up there with the likes of the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev.

On this one they've turned down the themes, tweaked the electronics to a lower voltage but cranked up the song-charm.

All of which means frontman Jason Lytle emerges even more as a literate, imaginative lyricist with his engaging, if whiny and Neil Young-ish voice.

That's whether he's doing his version of a breakup song (Yeah is What We Had), pondering writer's block (The Go in Go-For-It) or contemplating his advancing years (OK With My Decay). Elsewhere The Group Who Couldn't Say comes on like a Douglas Coupland short story set to music with its tale of office-bound workers experiencing the wonder of the great outdoors ("Darryl couldn't talk at all/ he wondered how the trees had grown to be so tall/ he calculated all the height and width and density for insurance purposes ... ") is one remarkable bit of song-smithery among the dozen askew gems.

Witty, brainy, and beguiling, Sumday shows Grandaddy are getting better with age.

Label: FMR/V2