CD of The Week

At this point in his career, Mike Doughty has been a solo artist longer than he was the frontman of Soul Coughing. With the release of his newest studio album, Yes And Also Yes, Doughty sounds completely comfortable with himself and his sound: sparsely-produced tunes with his distinct voice, guitar style and wordplay.

Super-hooky lead single “Na Na Nothing” kicks off Yes And Also Yes, which lands less than two years after 2009’sSad Man Happy Man. “Holiday (What Do You Want?)” is a beautiful Christmas duet with Roseanne Cash, chock full of sleigh bells and lovely lyrical descriptions of December touchstones. “Day By Day By” is another highlight, while the mournful “Russell” may be the only song this year to reference ‘80s programming languages BASIC, FORTRAN and COBOL. The driving but slight “Have At It” is propelled by They Might Be Giants drummer Marty Beller and Thomas “Doveman” Bartlett’s keyboard flourishes. Barely over a minute, “Makelloser Mann,” is entirely in German (with the lyrics translated into English in the liner notes). In fact, there are a number of shorter tunes on here, with four clocking in a Ramones-like two minutes or less.

Yes And Also Yes could use a few more musical surprises, though Doughty did just release an all-electronic album Dubious Luxury, so maybe he was saving more of his sonic tricks for that project. Regardless, this is another solid addition to Mike’s catalog. Doughty will be back in Philadelphia at The TLAwith his new “Band Fantastic” on November 16.