One gets the feeling from listening to "What Gives" is the three guys comprising Your Loving Tiger want to be weirder than they are. There are some Dadaist touches on this record that stick out like a sore thumb among accessible, if quirkily produced, folk songs.

But what songs they are. The best track is "The Long Arm of the Lamb," a tension/release pop phenomenon that uses Your Loving Tiger's avant-garde tendencies lightly and effectively. The verses stomp through minor chords, channeling Arcade Fire's cathartic furor, before slipping into a soaring, horn-laden chorus.

The band's pop sensibility keeps this project afloat, from the pulsing, Bowie-like "A Song For Amber" to the bells-and-whistles sheen of "No More Magnetic Footwear." The record's white noise interludes distract from the strong songwriting and performance energy on display, factors Your Loving Tiger shouldn't mask.

The album's drawbacks aren't exactly musical low points, they just lack emotional punch. "Baby Teeth," the record's closer, is a sprawling, dilapidated song loaded with guitar feedback and lines like "Let your new life be a ripe Washington apple." Despite moments of brilliance – including some Pete Townshend-like noodling – it's too ramshackle to stand up on its own. "Baby Teeth" should've been replaced by the record's hidden track, a three-minute ethereal acoustic song featuring the repeated line, "Fall apart, over and over." It's a beautiful, fitting end to such an abstract, but melodically strong CD.

Though the musical styles on "What Gives" range from dirge ballads to power pop, the disc is cohesive and tightly focused. How the band pulls this off we might never know, but that's the best part. DB

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