As it turns out, when you approach it with sufficiently low expectations, the Breeders‘ long-delayed comeback release, Title TK, is a damn good listen.

Faint praise indeed, but those are the circumstances under which I arrived at listening to it (over and over) lately. Reviews anywhere worth reading ranged from the lukewarm to the angry, and you do have to wonder about a band revitalized by the addition of guys whose claim to fame is the willingness to back up an aging, toothless Lee Ving in a latter-day version of Fear.

Title TK naturally will let down some folks who are invested in the Breeders’ earlier work, especially after the long break between releases. A wearier, weatherbeaten Kim Deal leads this iteration of the band, and the smile has left her face. You can’t believe everything you read, but it’s easy to buy all the reports on her beery lifestyle if we can judge from the torn and frayed sounds inside. Even worse, sister Kelley seems to have leveraged herself out of much more than occasional vocal duties, being too busy getting off and on and off junk.

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