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himself and cutting down on his famously insincere role-playing. The appeal of these fourteen slow, pretty songs still lies in Merritt's ability to mix self-conscious confessions with the light charm of pre-rock pop. Over his band's usual pitter-patter (heavy on banjo, cello and piano), Merritt uses his deep croon to turn out memorable melodies and deep-feeling one-liners, sounding both wry and genuinely sad as he wishes he had an evil twin and tells an ex, "I thought you were my boyfriend." I doesn't have all of 69 Love Songs' expansiveness and droll humor, but there's no denying the bittersweet charisma of Merritt's pop craftsmanship.