LEISURE WORLD

Leisure World is the latest album from singer-songwriter?Tyler Blue Broderick, who performs with the?project Diners. Not only is it the most eclectic and?ambitious album in the songwriter's (already muscular)?catalog to date-it's one of the catchiest, most?realized indie pop records released in years.?Like all of their work, Leisure World-which Broderick?scrapped and rerecorded several times before?landing on an aesthetic they found satisfactory-?draws on the most enduring aspects of pop's?past. Its 13 tracks bring to mind the technicolored?melodies of '60s pop icons like the Beatles and Zombies, ?the chilled-out pop proficiency of Laurel Canyon legends?like Carole King, and the wry, observational?story-telling of Jonathan Richman, and, to cite a more?recent artist, Jens Lekman.?Despite that, Leisure World is a not a cynical or even?Tired-sounding record. This is maybe best exemplified?by the album's penultimate track, Thanks For Listening,?which is gobsmacking in its warmth and earnestness. Performed by anyone other?than Diners, Thanks For Listening-which the?band closed every show with when I toured with?them this past spring-would scan sardonic. But I can?say with almost complete certainty that Tyler is being?serious, which is a beautiful thing. They love the?attention, but they also realize they'd be nothing?without the people who love them and their music.