JR JR

With a change in name comes a change in direction, as the Detroit indie-rock band formerly known as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. strips away the famous-racer part of its moniker and steers away from the fun pop-rock anthems of its first two albums (2011’s It’s a Corporate World and 2013’s The Speed of Things) into new, more adventurous territory. What this means on the self-titled JR JR is more soul-searching lyrics (dealing with heartbreak and insecurity in the modern world with “Break My Fall”), and an eclectic sound that goes from Beatles-like baroque pop (“Philip the Engineer”) to an experiment in merging an R&B slow jam with synths and electronic percussion (“James Dean”). It makes for a varied playlist that is a mostly sedated (the bouncy “Gone” is an exception, with a bright and insistent sound juxtaposing lyrics about relationship troubles—“I can’t be everything you want me to be/Finally, I can see the light through the leaves/But it’s all gone”), but impressive for its subtlety and variety. All in all a fantastic success.