David Bazan

Following the demise of Christian indie rockers Pedro the Lion, the project's brain trust, David Bazan, pursued a solo career that's so far culminated in the Fewer Moving Parts EP and now Curse Your Branches, his debut full-length as a solo artist. The changes between this work and his former band are many. The moral parables that were central to his previous band have been replaced with frank lyrics about Bazan's struggle with alcoholism and his newfound agnosticism. Musically, Pedro the Lion's simple but sturdy guitars have been replaced with sterilizing studio tinkering, resulting, at times, in too many ideas at once. For post-Christians 30somethings looking for mediocre indie pop and heart-on-sleeve theologizing, this is a doozy of an album. For the rest of the world, it's a pass.