I live in a two bedroom apartment with possibly the most irresponsible roommate known to man. While I love David like a brother, the eccentric schemes he pulls have managed to get him fired from numerous jobs and us kicked out of the dorms for setting random fires. Currently, David is selling bootleg posters on EBay to support his drinking and music addictions. I tell you this only because, for the last couple of weeks, the apartment has been filled with cardboard poster mailers; I mean, half of my kitchen is bogged down in these things, and as of last week they have served no plausible purpose in my life. That all changed when I received my latest package of CDs, among which was The Lucksmiths' Why That Doesn't Surprise Me.

So I got home around 3:00 PM with a box of sushi, and because I was alone I threw on the CD. The first track, "Music To Hold Hands To", didn't strike me as anything remarkable -- just an acoustic/folky pop number with decent lyrics. I was just about finished setting out my food when the second track, "Synchronised Sinking", cued up. The infectious strumming immediately caught my ear, so I put down the fork, picked up a poster mailer and began to play rockstar with it, strumming along for all I was worth.

The song ended, but I hadn't had enough of it yet, so I hit the repeat button. It took me thirty-minutes to move past "Synchronised Sinking". David got home at 3:30 to find me flailing around in the middle of a bunch LP sleeves I had set up on the kitchen counter as a makeshift drum kit. I was pounding my heart out with the cardboard mailers, which were now serving as oversized drumsticks.

All my free listening time during the last few days has been devoted to this album -- not because it's unbelievably prescient or a life-affirming artistic achievement, but because it's an undeniably spectacular pop record. Recent straight-up pop efforts have annoyed me with their constant insistence upon cutesy or fey undertones, which prevent the listener from developing much emotional attachment to the record. On Why That Doesn't Surprise Me, The Lucksmiths avoid any such leanings. From beginning to end they display an untouched sense of urgency and poignant depth that few groups can match. Lyrically, the album avoids tacky clichés while retaining clarity and unassuming passion.

Why That Doesn't Surprise Me is an unyielding and mature effort by a band that has hit their stride. You won't see a better pop record released this year...let alone one that'll inspire you to build a pretend drum kit out of LP sleeves.