A band like Yo La Tengo really illustrates how unreliable one’s concept of time can be. My brain can’t grasp the fact that they formed the same year as Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s first album came out. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking 1984. Ronald Regan won his second election by carrying 49 states, Ghostbusters was second-highest grossing film of the year and Jaroslav Seifert won the Nobel Prize for literature. That’s twenty-two years before the Arctic Monkey’s debut album came out. (Who’s feeling old?) I’m only beating this dead horse because I’m fascinated.

Yo La Tengo’s age is striking because none of their stuff sounds dated and they seem to always release albums that are very, very good. They’re like an indie rock Dorian Gray, except that instead of an ever-more grotesque portrait in an attic they have an ever-more robust back catalog. Even lesser titles like Summer Sun are fine albums. Popular Songs, their latest, while falling short of the magnificence of I Can Hear Beating As One or And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, is one of their better albums. Not bad for a trio of old fogies.

Reinvigorated by the wonderful Condo Fucks project earlier this year, Popular Songs is an album sprawling in length and scope. At over seventy-minutes, the band showcases all their strengths, alternating between fuzzy jams, low-fi grooves, upbeat rockers and sparse, atmospheric numbers, all with the seamless cohesion we’ve some to expect from these Hobokens. If there’s any criticism to be made, it’s that occasional moments on the album are perhaps a bit too reminiscent of older songs, but not nearly to the extent of the aforementioned near-misstep Summer Sun. There are plenty of fresh moments here and Yo La Tengo fans should be nothing short of elated with the latest offering from this enduring and endearing trio.