Nickel Creek's new album is a haunting and bitter portrait of a cynical twenty-something man experiencing "aporia," that is, a sort of paralyzing disillusionment, with his wicked way of life. The music is to my taste, especially "Helena" and "Can't Complain," but the words (once I paid attention to them) describe the various inner worlds of self-destructive, self-loathing, despairing people. "She can't complain," is about an unapologetic cheater complaining to his girlfriend that she can't complain because 'I warned her; I'm a guy.' "Somebody more like you" is another break-up song, where the heartbreaker's words "we're just so different" lead him to wish she finds someone "more like her," that is, just as small. The gruesome "Best of Luck" is a first person account of, apparently, a high school teacher who sleeps with one of his students, and the trauma and regret of keeping their love hidden.
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