Indestructible Object
After a couple of projects aimed into the children's market, (No!and the book/CDBed, Bed, Bed), They Might Be Giants bring forth an EP that both connects with the aforementioned works as well as their previous "adult" work,Mink Car. Let it also be said that their music from the outset has been quite child-friendly, while their songs specifically for children work just fine on most parents as well, eschewing anything cloying for a slightly milder version of the fractured poetics found in their surrealist wordplay.Indestructible Objectis in that classic mold of an EP meant to appease and tease prior to the appearance of a full-length disc. Four new songs are appended with a live rendition ofBrian Wilson's "Caroline, No." As the two Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh) grow into middle age, the existentialism that has always empowered their finest songs has fully flowered. The enduring magic of their music is the way in which they imbue happy ditties with magical and sweetly alluring melancholy.--David Greenberger