CD of The Week

With four decades and hundreds of songs under their belts, They Might Be Giants keep on keepin’ on with their 24th studio album, The World is To Dig. The title is a reference to A Hole is to Dig, a children’s book from the ‘50s. It’s also a glimmer of positivity in a dark world, from a band with plenty of darkness in their songs over the years. Our world is still an amazing place (“dig” as in the Beatnik meaning of the word) despite all the evil surrounding us.

Album opener “Back in Los Angeles” is a unique mood setter, a skewed, noir trek through the City of Angels with John Linnell. Lead single “Wu-Tang” is a classic TMBG hooky track, written from the POV of a super-fan of the Wu-Tang Clan, who credits the hip-hop collective with an epiphany of sorts, with a pure sugar rush of the Johns harmonizing on singing “Wuuuu-Taaaang” over and over. Entirely sung in French, Linnell says "Je Ne Ai Pas" was inspired by Duolingo and the seemingly random phrases it gives you to translate. (“Je Ne Ai Pas” means “I’ve got nothing.”)

The revving “Outside Brain” is an attempt to capture a mood of panic and mania, and while “Let’s Fall in Lava” is a bit of an obvious pun, there’s a reference to the end of Terminator 2 in it. Another highlight is the funky “Get Down,” bolstered by their big horn arrangements, as the Johns play with multiple meanings of the term… not just in the James Brown way, but here in a “duck and cover, the aliens are attacking” way!

The Johns are no strangers to putting cover songs on their albums and The World is To Dig features The Raspberries’ 1974 single “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record),” about the music business and the machinations behind creating a hit song. It’s not too far off, but not as biting as their own ‘80s tune “Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal.”

"In the Dead Mall" is a big, rollicking show-stopper from John Flansburgh, while "What the Cat Dragged In" sounds straight out of a stage musical, boosted by the horn section (and with a reference to Fiddler on the Roof for good measure). “New Wave Will Never Die" is not really a new wave song, more of a moody bossa nova. “Character Flaw” from the perspective of a self-aware jerk whose personality is “not part of my charm/It's not pleasant at all.” Album closer "They Might Be Feral" returns to lyrically playing with their own band name, “They might be solo, they might be crowd/They might be silent, they might be loud.”

The World Is to Dig has a few too many same-y mid-tempo tracks and could have benefitted from some more of the left-field experimentation from the past few albums. But all in all, it’s another solid addition to the truly staggering TMBG catalog.

They Might Be Giants return to Philadelphia to play a three-night stand at Union Transfer on May 15th-17th (Saturday the 16th is already sold out). And listen to our interview with John Flansburgh On Demand.