Mercury

Working with producer Mitchell Froom, AMC made an intricate masterpiece. The album is loaded with artful arrangements and passionate songs about people lost in life's whirlwind. "Gratitude Walks" tries to elicit a smile, but not when you're "drunk on the kind of applause that gets louder the lower you sink." Singer/songwriter Mark Eitzel relates best to those living in the after hours, and his late-night visions shape these electrified parables. "I've Been a Mess" is the sound of a lover at wit's end. "Challenger" is the least likely road ode for the traveling musician. "Apology for an Accident" tangles in mixed metaphors and existential guilt. The album's centerpiece—"Johnny Mathis' Feet"—is a wicked homage that finds Eitzel unable to bear stardom's weight. Froom's production includes a dizzying array of tricks and textures. The guitars bang out of tune by the end of "If I Had a Hammer." Drummer Tim Mooney builds a sonic groove for "Over and Done," while guitarist Vudi takes "What Godzilla Said to God When His Name Wasn't Found in the Book of Life" and turns it into an epic battle.