A line about a heart “pounding loud like a timpani” in “The Ancient Commensense Of Things”‘s delivered with a sort of John Darnielle intonation. And “Dimmer” comes back a few times to an “olly olly oxen free.” Bishop Allen’s pop includes a variety of strings and keyboards and voices, but when listening to these tracks from the Brooklyn-via-Harvard Andrew Bujalski-approved band’s third full-length Grrr…, I find myself focusing more on the words and how they’re enunciated than the hooks. No, the narratives aren’t up to Mountain Goats standards, but they are interesting enough, and the mix is definitely lyric friendly:

• Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”Download

• Bishop Allen – “The Ancient Commonsense of Things”Download

Grrr… is out 3/10 via Dead Oceans. You can pre-order here. BA head on tour the day the album hits stores:

03/10 – New York City, NY @ Other Music (Free In-Store)
03/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
03/13 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/14 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/15 – Asheville, NC @ The Rocket Club
03/16 – Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Cafe
03/17 – Little Rock, AR @ Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack
03/18 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues – The Pontiac Garage
03/19 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/20 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/23 – West Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour
03/24 – San Francisco, CA @ The Rickshaw Shop
03/26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
03/27 – Provo, UT @ Velour
03/28 – Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
03/29 – Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Saloon
03/31 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
04/02 – Northhampton, MA @ Iron Horse
04/03 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
04/04 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
04/05 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

[Photo by Sebastian Mlynarski]