Kweller doing what he does best

He's a little goofy, perhaps even a little neurotic, but that's precisely what we've come to love about Ben Kweller since his 2002 full-length debut, Sha Sha.\nAnd with his new self-titled effort, we're treated to plenty of that, but also Kweller at his best musically -- an eclectic blend of piano and acoustic guitar -- a sound a bit absent from his harder, more in your face disc -- 2004's On My Way.\nThe single "Sundress" plays like a building leveled by dynamite, starting out as a slow piano piece that all comes crashing to the ground in an insanely melodic and striking chorus, with piano notes and guitar strums as the bricks in a rather beautiful pile of rubble.\nThe album's lead track "Run" literally runs along - from the song's opening piano lick to Kweller's "Whoa ohs" and "Oh yeahs" that intermix with his prose about leaving a small town with his girl. Perhaps this is a song penned for his wife, Liz, who gave birth to their first child at the end of May.\n"Penny on the Train Track" is the most lyrically striking song on the disc. "I'm just a penny on the train track/Waitin' for my judgment day/Come on baby girl let me see those legs/Before I get flattened away" BK sings.\nKweller harkens back to On My Way's harder cuts with the album's concluding track "This is War." With an English accent, this song could easily be mistaken for a Bloc Party or Arctic Monkeys song, as it rolls along at a blistering pace.\nKweller's latest effort isn't quite as spot-on as Sha Sha, but it's certainly a step back in the right direction musically from On My Way. \nOn the disc's most poignant song "Until I Die," Kweller sings, "I'm so sorry/I'm so paranoid/It's something in my head/That I can't avoid."\nIt's OK, Ben -- no need for apologies. We feel you.