Jay Reatard

Jay Lindsey currently releases solo albums under the stage name Jay Reatard, though former iterations of his work have been produced as the Reatards. The eyebrow-raising self-deprecation of this pseudonym is telling; his music deals in the dry witticism, morose lyrics, and tongue-in-cheek humor paramount to British punk bands like the Sex Pistols.

Though the Reatard style pays lip service to such British punk, the actual music on his latest full-length release, Watch Me Fall, takes on a more American incarnation of the garage rock of Lindsey's native Memphis, Tennessee. Power chords and tambourines open "It Ain't Gonna Save Me," the album's lead single, which pairs optimistic guitar jangle with a chorus of: "All is lost/There is no hope for me." "Before I Was Caught" continues the album's M.O.-matching up-tempo music with downtrodden lyrics. Add muddied production a la Iggy Pop, and it all begins to reek of formulaic 1970's retrofitting.

But Reatard stays one step ahead of retread. "Faking It" deceptively pays homage to the canonical Buzzcocks single "Orgasm Addict"-faux-British accent and all-but delightfully, isn't about sex. "I'm Watching You" ends a six-track adrenaline rush, before Reatard slows the tempo to a more languid pace. Generally enthused about tapping into new styles, Reatard branches out from the muscular pop-punk into dreamier songs like "My Reality" on the second half of the album. While he doesn't exactly wallow in these later tracks, they are less successful embodiments of his creativity.

It seems like these experiments are an effort to capture some of the mad brilliance of Jay Reatard's noisy live show. He succeeds on epic closer "There Is No Sun," and by ending on this note, points toward an even brighter future for his next full length.