Pointed Sticks
Pointed Sticks (Northern Electric/Sudden Death)

When the Pointed Sticks released their 2009 studio comeback, Three Lefts Make a Right, it was probably inevitable that, viewed from under the crush of hefty expectations, it would get a lukewarm reception. The veteran quintet’s self-titled new album has no such problem. Since no one ever thought such a thing would happen—a second comeback? really?—it arrives as a gift, asking you to evaluate it on its own terms, immediately bowling you over with how delightful it is.

Playful, glowing, smart, and hooky, it showcases songs written mostly by vocalist Nick Jones and keyboardist Gord Nicholl, occasionally cannibalizing older material en route. There’s also an oddball centrepiece, “Tin Foil Hat”, which anyone who has seen Slowpoke and the Smoke—a goofy, doo-wop-by-way-of-Zappa side project—will recognize as a Tony Bardach composition. Then there’s the almost glammy, cowbell-centric “Tsune’s Song”, which the band debuted at the Khats fest earlier this summer, dedicating it to the Japanese fans who brought it out of retirement.

Pointed Sticks might not sound anything like a Pointed Sticks record, but who even knows what a Pointed Sticks record is supposed to sound like these days? And who really cares, when this album is so goddamn good?