How can you wish anything but the best for a band that fashions a song --a pretty good one, at that --out of a "Simpsons" line? The answer is, you can't. But it's all right to wish that, this time out, their lugubrious soundscapes and hushed vocals achieved more than atmosphere, or that the seemingly autobiographical sketches of one of pop music's most touchingly ordinary marriages weren't rendered static by backgrounds that wouldn't stir a somnambulist. Fans will enjoy it. I enjoy it. But usually before bedtime.

Rating: 6

--Rob Brookman