Boy, is this record eager to please. From “Superman” on, Adam’s Attic deploys pop device after pop device to win your attention and affection. They execute them well, so as you might expect, the songs are catchy. “Superman” and “Today” particularly have clear, simple choruses that are easily remembered, and the songwriting is uniformly effective. Singer Joe Henry can deliver a pop song with sincerity, and producer Caleb Guillotte wisely keeps his voice up front with the chiming guitars stacked up right behind it.

At this point though, the material isn’t as distinct as it should be. Everything works, but it’s hard to hear the band’s personality or see the band’s fingerprints. All the decisions are the right decisions, but none of them sound like personal or individual decisions; they’re the same musical decisions people in pop bands across America are making and have made before. Pop may be the hardest musical form because it is so referential to its past, but for pop bands to stand out, something “wrong” or unexpected has to happen. On Adam’s Attic, everything happens exactly as it should, which, unfortunately, isn’t how great pop albums are made. Paradoxes are a bitch.