Secret Primper's discs should come with a warning label -- "If there's any chance you won't be able to tolerate a singer who sounds like if Ted Leo had Pee Wee Herman's baby, buy something else." Good luck finding a review of either a Primper or Dyn@mutt (singer/guitarist/songwriter Dave Deggeller's former band) record that doesn't include the word "nasal". There aren't that many synonyms for it, and you just can't escape describing Deggeller's voice, prominent and indeed nasal as it is. Happily, it's easily warmed up to, and after a while you'll appreciate how well it suits the arch wordplay of the lyrics.

Less ragged than 2002's Alliteration and You, Closet Drama gleams with a more polished production job and copious amounts of ivory. The piano playing here is pert and buoyant, adding Ben Folds levity and brightness rather than laughable Keane melodrama. It's slippery, too, as Degeller plays with bizarre off-notes on "Figurines" and "Scantily Clad". The guitars haven't gone anywhere, though; slashing, sloppy chords lead songs like the dark "Bloodhounds" to indie glory, and a sweet hammer-on trill (echoed on piano) lends instant charm to "Period Piece".

Deggeller is a strong, clever lyricist, whether he's decrying the sexy girl with "the worst posture in the seventeenth grade" or proclaiming, "I'm alive and kicking you out of my life for the first time / you're the gift that keeps on giving me ulcers that never mend." He's so good, he can even pull off politics. On the scathing "How Patriotic are You?", he sings, "clone-time is over / who would ever think to make themselves in two? / but here's an offer: you can double me just please don't W." Well, I guess that one only works with the lyric sheet in hand.