with the force of a "Brick"; the most affecting is "Late," a plain-spoken eulogy for Elliott Smith. Folds never loses track of his pop hooks, even when he's deploying tricky time signatures and Steely Dan-worthy chord progressions. He has also found more deserving targets for his wit than suburban rappers and T-shirt-hoarding girlfriends. The album hits its peak with "Jesusland," a deceptively perky mini-epic with Beach Boys harmonies and mournful strings that imagines a disapproving Jesus taking a tour of a red state's soulless McMansions: "Billboards quoting things you'd never say/You hang your head and pray/For Jesusland.