Mr. Mould's latest effort kicks off with title track "Life and Times" and immediately spins a time warp on the listener:  It's 1992.  The world is still a bit bewildering, but you have your walkman - your personal soundtrack to life - and therefore it is still your oyster.  This album rocks.

Our narrator and guide has traversed all these roads before (some of them three decades earlier), and he uses his insight and concise clarification to council his listeners on this darkly ironic view of the world.  He is dry but sharp in his observations, calculatingly recording the everyday heartbreak of life:  "Can you get off your high horse/ This is the end of the ride", and "I always find the broken ones/ What does that say about me?" stand out in particular at the moment.

In a scant 36 minutes, Mr. Mould has covered more emotional, musical, and risk-taking ground than most solo releases this year.  He's not afraid to let the sugar shine (the poppy, Husker Du-esque pleasure of "MM 17"), draw out the melancholic poetry of the city ("Bad Blood Better"), or let gloomy seduction reign supreme ("Wasted World").  My only disappointment is that I needed to play it thrice before feeling completely satisfied by this saturated record.

*****

Track Listing:

1) Life and Times
2) The Breach
3) City Lights (Days Go By)
4) MM 17
5) Argos
6) Bad Blood Better
7) Wasted World
8) Spiraling Down
9) I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can't Stand In My Light Any More
10)   Lifetime