On Faking the Books, Lali Puna continue what they started on 2001's Scary World Theory and to a lesser extent, 1999's Tridecoder. Where Scary World Theory combined the personal and the political, Faking the Books also deals with the mundane-yet-human repercussions of living in a cannibalistic world. The enemy is never named, but there are some major themes: fear, loss of dignity, deception, being let down and greed.

Yes, Lali Puna are taking the Radiohead Route™. Not just thematically, either: the tone and ambience of Faking the Books is as detached and cold as Amnesiac was, though more straightforward: there are more "straight" guitars and "actual" drums on this album. These are a welcome addition to Valerie Trebeljahr's sexy, Laetitia Sadier-like breathiness and Lali Puna's drowzy electronic compositions. The title track opens with a clipped and mutated vocal sample reminiscent of the beginning of "Everything in its Right Place"; it sets up the album's wistful tone and contains a contingency clause, presumably in case Faking the Books doesn't change the world for the better: "We've been wrong before / I'll be true again / But until then / I fake the books / 'Cause everybody knows / This ain't heaven".

"Call 1-800-Fear" kickstarts the rock with Faking the Books's catchiest tune. It smothers like a fire blanket, keeping the wrath of the "mini-nukes" at bay. "Grin and Bear" is as empty-yet-meaningful as Danny Boyle's 2002 film 28 Days Later, which took post-millennial tension to gut-wrenching new highs, while "Alienation" questions the validity of "truth" in today's society. Its subtext demands a resistance to half-truths and laments the feelings of powerlessness that arise when our politicians' dangerous and slippery soundbites infect the minds of the masses, most of whom aren't aware that anything is going on. "Call 1-800-Fear" addresses these people in much the same way that Thom Yorke did when he told them they weren't "payin' attention".

For every action there is a reaction. For every poker-faced politician and CEO, there is a Thom Yorke and a Bono -- popstar Generals in this quagmire of words, ideology, wealth, poverty and, of course, Art. I know people who dislike political music -- even vague, inarticulate political music. They claim that art should stand on its own two legs: arts for art's sake. But what is art but a reflection of, or an interpretation of, the world and all the fucked up things we humans do -- as well as the good?

The mirror that Lali Puna holds up to the world will either make you yawn, or it will ring very true -- sometimes all you need to be outraged is an album like this, where meaning is coated in stream-of-consciousness lyrics and your only guide is the vague, creeping sense of things being not quite right. In the meantime, you can enjoy Faking the Books's chilled tunes (if this is your sort of music) and leave the aggressive, intellectualized scaremongering to those who aren't above shouting the message.