Lord Cut-Glass

Lord Cut-Glass is Alun Woodward, former singer for Scotland’s highly regarded Delgados. His taste for dark humor, his paradoxically pleasing vocals and Scottish lilt, and his penchant for strings and orchestral arrangements evoke a number of things throughout Lord Cut-Glass: an escapist world of poetry and theater, the Beatles (okay, only faintly), personal longing and discontent, and the cinematic and lyrical indie pop of bands like Arcade Fire and the Decemberists. The collection starts off with the teasing and poking, “Even Jesus Couldn’t Love You,” with memorable lines like, “Did your pony not wuv you / Reject you and buck you?” and ends with “Toot Toot,” a whimsical and yet moody little number with honking horns, strings and synths. In between, there is no shortage of savvy pop, from the gently loping guitars and strings of “Picasso” to the funny and seemingly earnest “Look After Your Wife” and the parading stomp of “Big Time Teddy.” The lovely and largely acoustic “Holy ...” is a gentle confession/plea, tiptoeing around unrequited love (“I love you much more than you can bear”), while the brooding “You Know” builds to a satisfying mini-crescendo.