Something annoying pervades Nanobots, the newest They Might be Giants (TMBG) album. That’s not to say the album is bad – it isn’t – but there is a ticky nervousness about it. Maybe this flaw can be attributed to the album’s pacing: with 25 songs jammed into a scant 45 minutes, there’s no space or time to breathe. At times one can barely tell where some songs end and others begin; sometimes the change is so jarring that it requires a second to adjust to new bearings (a second which the songs’ infinitesimal length may not grant). This constant state of flux lends the album a frustratingly patchwork quality. But even if the album was a more cohesive unit, it would be hard-pressed to qualify as a stand-out in TMBG’s catalogue, let alone as a great album. There’s plenty of fun to be had here, but the band’s trademark wit and musical chops are scarce. The songs may be worth humming along with, even worth dancing to, but ultimately feel empty.

It’s easy to blame this on the often frustratingly short length of the tracks; in an effort to avoid padding their music with unnecessary choruses and verses (according to Mr. Linnell) the band has produced 12 songs that clock-in at just under two minutes each, 9 of which 12 are less than 30 seconds long. Their choices, however, seem confused: some of the snippets beg to be explored while some of the longer tracks desperately need pruning.  Though initially hysterical, the power-pop rocker that is “Circular Karate Chop” needlessly belabors its one-note humor with a second verse that is nearly identical to the first. It would have been better served ending with the fantastic mid-song break. “Stone Cold Coup D’etat” is a grating stop-and-start affair, the sinister, building momentum of its verses sapped by the weak chorus and fizzling ending. There are the occasional fumbling attempts at depth, as with the dark humor of “Black Ops” and the somber reflection of “Sometimes a Lonely Way,” but the songs are so empty they barely even register: they almost seem three minutes of listless drone. By contrast, the jerky, rhythmic sway of “Sleep” (which also boasts some of the best lyrics on the album) is so catching that it’s impossible to be happy when it ends after a scant 43 seconds.  “There” is all hook, a shadowy and comically seductive introduction to a song that never was but should have been. And they must have been crazy to cut off “Destroy the Past” just as it’s picking up, or to extend the intolerable “Replicant” to 3 minutes. That’s not to say that they should have clipped every longer song or expanded every short. “Nouns” is PERFECT as a 17 second jingle; “Lost My Mind” utilizes every second of its three minutes to maximum effect and is the best track on the album for it.

The problem is that even the standout tracks – “Lost My Mind,” “Icky,” “Destroy the Past,” “Nouns” – are plagued by a hollow poppiness.  There’s very little of the rock’n roll that TMBGs have always shown themselves to be masters of. There’s very little of the overtly experimental that characterizes – and enlivens – TMBGs’ best: “Replicant” and “Stuff Is Way” come the closest to capturing the old style, but manage to capture only the cloying, arch obnoxiousness of their worst earlier efforts. Though there are surface comparisons between Apollo 18, which was similarly paced, the diverse arrangement of songs there was intended to (and did) utilize the “shuffle” function of CD players such that every listening experience was different. Not that it can’t be listened to straight through: every song on that album possesses a complex and full sound, even the infamous “Fingertips”. By contrast, Nanobots is so insubstantial and twee that it has a hard time persisting in the memory despite its catchy hooks. Though far from bad, Nanobots is, ultimately, slight, perfect background for a casual drive but substantial enough for very little else.