They Might Be Giants The Else by: Matt Smith Tue:13-Nov-07 Label: Idlewild Year: 2007 WB rating 72 out of 100

It is a difficult task to neatly summarize the twelve album/quarter-century-spanning career of They Might Be Giants and how their latest record The Else, fits into it. Eclectic barely covers it. There have been collaborations with literary journals, countless TV and movie theme songs, internet projects, children's albums and books, small-screen cameos, a penchant for Egyptian head gear, oversized paper mache masks, and, of course, ‘Birdhouse in Your Soul’. If pushed to find a connection between it all, it's likely the best you can come up with is a decidedly left of centre stance and a willingness to run with whatever quirky, absurd, or inspired idea materialises in their brains – that and a commitment to writing catchy, off-kilter pop-rock songs full of weird instrumentation, obtuse wordplay and occasional references to classical civilisations.

'The Else' makes use of the talents of the Dust Brothers, the producer duo behind albums by, amongst others,  Blur, Linkin Park, the Beastie Boys, and probably most famously, Beck, and their hand in the proceedings is quite noticeable. In fact I was constantly reminded of Beck's Odelay whilst listening to The Else; the way in which it seems to be a collection of individual, almost unrelated songs, a series of grooves each based around its own idea and sound. Some tracks, such as the jerky, sample laden 'Withered Hope' and 'Take Out the Trash' with it's funky drum-bass-turntable bridge, could perhaps happily exist in either record, whilst 'Upside Down Frown', a twee sing-along set to a faux drum 'n' bass rhythm sounds like an artist vs producer musical throw-down refereed by Mr Hansen himself. If at times everything threatens to become a little too inconsistent, then coherence in production ensures that some kind of focus is maintained: the drums are kept nice and crisp and the bass remains pleasingly beefy throughout, whilst the clever wordsmithery and off-beat charm of TMBG is ever present.

In any case, the mosaic nature of The Else sits well, and is typical of the creative output of a band that has never been lacking in innovation, and indeed this imagination is found in the seriously strange and varied instrumentation of many songs found on the album. Songs such as 'With the Dark', that starts quietly as a simple ballad before it spirals out of control and manages to fit in brass fanfares, violins, melodicas and a short congo breakdown before winding up in a funky 70's style guitar conclusion. If ever there was a wonderfully ADD afflicted number crying out for a strong prescription of Ritalin, it would be this one.

What is a little surprising then is the inclusion alongside these They Might Be Giants staples; a relatively high proportion of straight-up, guitar and drum based rock songs such as 'Shadow Government' and 'The Cap'm'. And it's probably more surprising that these punky efforts, heavy on the distorted guitar and fuzz bass, are successfully pulled off, and manage, albeit in an odd sort of way, to fit within the album as a whole. One of these, 'I'm Impressed',  even unexpectedly succeeds as a sly swipe at the Bush Administration's war on terror, in which John Linnell sarcastically exclaims 'I fall to bits, I confess, I admit, I'm  impressed/When that tornado from the west crushes buildings I'm impressed'. It's the first track on the album, and one of the rare occasions when They Might Be Giants' trademark abstract lyrics give way to something more direct.

And no, they couldn't resist a novelty historical song. Throwaway album closer 'The Mesopotamians' paints a picture of ancient kings cruising round town in a beat up ford van, squabbling and moaning about how no-ones heard of their band. Daft it may be, but is notable for the sublimely ridiculous lines 'this is my last stick of gum/I'm going to cut it up so that everybody gets some/except for Ashurbanipal, who says my haircut/makes me look like a Mohenjo-Daren'. Weird.