While Capgun Coup's 2007 debut, Brought To You By Nebraskafish, was a wonderfully motley snapshot collection of their evolution as a band, Maudlin is focused and lyrically personal. The new album is often a satiric commentary on the state of contemporary life, from the futility of sadness, self-pity, and ennui ("Sitting On The Sidewalk", "Now That I'm Home") to economic and social inequities ("Got Alot Of Gull", "Only The Times Are Changing") to the anesthetizing effects of technology ("Computer Screens And TVs"). With dishwater-colored and cracked glasses, Capgun Coup are almost modern, Midwestern Holden Caulfields - howling with restless dissatisfaction in anguished, dissonant vocals and armed with guitars.

Maudlin is in many ways a sonic homage to Capgun Coup's renowned energetic performances at house parties and Hotel Frank. The famed and notorious Hotel Frank in Omaha has served as a refuge for, and breeding ground of, young musicians and artists since the late '80s. It's also where the band used to live with 23 friends and where the new album was born. The album radiates with youthful, impish verve, from songs like the raw "Bad Bands" to the languid, loudly murmuring "Farnam Street" to the surf-rocking, whirlwind tempest "When I'm Gone". Exploring the ups and downs of a culture of carousing, frontman Sam Martin delivers clever, lyrical turns of phrase. Capgun Coup recorded Maudlin live, all together in one room, with the help of AJ Mogis, who captured their live sound and highlighted the innate pop sensibility that threads through their vibrant cacophony of alternately angular and loosely jangling guitars and rattling drums.

Track listing for Maudlin: