Pickpocket's Locket

Pickpocket's Locket finds Frog Eyes sounding almost muzzled—it's a quieter, toned-down version of the band. But despite the record's deliberate transparency of production style, the musical structures are as hard to parse as they have ever been.

Bandleader Carey Mercer has penned ten songs of mortality and redemption with characteristic eloquence, though his delivery risks muddying their meaning.

Over the past few years, Carey Mercer (aka Frog Eyes) has had no problem coming up with lyrical fodder. After contracting cancer before the...