I doubt Ben Barnett's loves, former and present, ever mind being in his songs. He's a brilliant writer of unforced, honest, romantic and often beautiful lyrics ("I can't blame my girlfriend; she's a real friend with a cool, cool heart"). While the lyrics steer the direction of the melodies for Ben's songs, it's done in a good way, shaping the music to come out as authentic as the thoughts he conveys. Unlike the brilliant Paul Westerberg, who tends to stumble when leaving well-worn melodies (as in the boring "Self Defense"), Barnett has made it his gift to make songs that individually run scattershot across the spectrum of our moods -- never taking their leaps of emotion on cue, but as randomly as the days in any good old manic depressive's life.

The rerelease of You Secretly Want Me Dead has been remastered to sound like Ben is sitting closer to you than a personal journal. On the (very small) downside, it uses violin to lesser effect than in Nothing Makes Sense Without It, with the guitar almost drowning out a beautiful violin part in "Your Favorite Actor". The guitar playing itself is rather varied too, and while it highlights Ben's ability to get each chord to convey the mood, a few songs don't really give his hands enough exercise -- as with "A Thought From the Kitchen Floor", which give the lyrics an unfair share of the work to make art out of the song. Art the song does become, but only if your ears remain attentive.

It's hard to express anything short of ecstasy about Ben Barnett and this very welcome rerelease. It includes at least five essential pieces ("We Got as Far as Minnesota", "Happy?", "Please Don't Sweat the Afterlife", "Something In the Air" and "Afraid of Crushes") and a good balance between the slow and the fast. If Ben Barnett can truly be called an emo balladeer, as I once read somewhere, then why the hell God aren't there more of them?