Political awareness is nothing new for Ted Leo. In a music scene brimming with politically illiterate post-punk enthusiasts, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are a much needed breath of fresh air. While many of these groups sing primarily about the joys of whiskey drinking, Leo prefers to harmonize about government failure. Rather than shy away from dense political narratives, the Notre Dame graduate and New Jersey native eagerly embraces these heavy topics within the confines of his guitar-heavy tracks.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

The Brutalist Bricks
Matador

More like this

• Weekend Concert Guide — 3/11/10
• New Jersey's Leo finally slumps on new 'Streets'
• Short Takes
• Walking the pop- punk line

With the Pharmacists, Leo’s current band and most successful project, he has honed his talent for crafting punk-inspired beats tinged with political angst. On the group’s sixth full-length album, The Brutalist Bricks, Leo and his Pharmacists have solidified their sound and produced their most cohesive collection since 2003’s near-perfect Hearts of Oak.

Unlike its overambitious 2007 predecessor Living With the Living, the Pharmacists’ most recent offering is tighter, more compact and more on-point. Instead of sprawling out into extended periods of static confusion, every track on the album is expertly structured with a gripping introduction, catchy chorus and (typically) a signature Ted Leo guitar solo. From roaring anthems (“The Mighty Sparrow”) to engaging yet subdued cuts (“One Polaroid A Day”) to quiet acoustic tracks (“Tuberculoids Arrive In Hop”), the album touches on various musical orientations that are all tied together by Leo’s prevailing punk influences.

The band’s ability to straddle multiple musical labels is wholly apparent on “Mourning In America,” a track that wears its political leanings on its sleeve. As Leo cryptically illustrates the bloody history of racial oppression in the U.S., the track alternates between frantic drumming and deep synths, briefly cut by a somber guitar-driven bridge. In combining these diverse soundwaves within one tightly constructed song, Leo demonstrates his ability to pull various influences together to produce a track that is both cohesive and innovative.

This ingenuity is expanded on in the brilliant “Bottled In Cork,” a cut that touches upon a multitude of styles in just over three minutes. Beginning with a frantic combination of crazed guitar strings and uncoordinated drumming, the song initially comes off as a prototypical post-punk orgy of frenzied instrumentation. This chaos soon reverts to a mix of cutesy guitars, topped off with a dizzying Ted Leo solo. By showcasing his ability to surprise, Leo proves that neither he nor his Pharmacists have fallen into the trap of producing formalistic – and ultimately boring – records to appease its fan base.

Apart from this wide assortment of musical styles, The Brutalist Bricks is also packed with its fair share of politically tinged lyrical puns. Like many musicians with punk leanings, his political musings tend to skew heavily to the left. The aforementioned “Bottled In Cork” offers the album’s most convoluted – and, arguably, riskiest – line, “There was a resolution pending on the United Nations’ floor / In reference to the question ‘What’s a peacekeeping force for?’ ” Such a line can be appreciated simply for its pure audacity.

Leo continues with this questioning theme on “Woke Up Near Chelsea,” a quirky cut that opens with the phrase “Well we all got a job to do / And we all hate God,” before lamenting the “despair” in America.

While Leo definitely has a political agenda in crafting certain lyrics, he doesn’t allow his core message to excuse sloppy songwriting. The vast majority of the tracks are strong enough on their own so that his overriding political message only becomes apparent upon repeated listens. And, thankfully, The Brutalist Bricks has so many gems that multiple spins come easy.