You’re not gonna hear it. You will listen, but you’ll gloss it over, or maybe you just don’t listen that closely to lyrics. But this is one case where it doesn’t make a difference.

All you or I can hear is jangling guitar play, emotive falsetto and some of the best pop melodies ever written by an actual musician.

That’s the beauty of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (TL/RX). They never shy from a pop aesthetic, and can be quite sterile for some people. This might upset some music snobs, but not this one. I am all for people discovering new music and for the wider exposure of good music. If new listeners don’t click with the fan base, then they won’t go to shows or they will skip the new album, but at the very least they heard something new, and that is a triumph none too small.

The genius of Ted Leo continues with the band’s latest effort: “Living with the Living.” Some may have been introduced to this band with the previous album: “Shake the Sheets” (StS). StS put out a single, “Me and Mia,” that was somewhat caught in the wave of “indie” rock that moved towards mainstream exposure over the past few years. This trend has seen bands like Arcade Fire snapped up by major labels, and it gave indie vets Modest Mouse a high profile single.

TL/RX has a very radio friendly sound, but StS had more singles on it than the band’s other albums. This is in no way indicative of selling out. Not in the least. I think that the fact that the album came out in an election year, 2004, had a huge factor in the sound of StS.

Ted Leo is a very political person, very political. The first term of George Bush was more than he could handle. Trying to write an album with the political backdrop that he had, Ted put out some short songs. Compared to previous work, StS had less long songs. Ted, fueling his art with politics and anger, created fast paced songs that never let up and ended abruptly.