Titus Andronicus: The Monitor

Label: XL

Titus Andronicus have dedicated their sophomore release to the Civil War—the USS Monitor was a Union battleship—and enlisted friends (including members of Vivian Girls, Deer Tick, The Hold Steady, and Wye Oak) to help them in their exploration of crippling self-doubt and hard-earned resolution in a divided state. While most of the music follows a man as he tries to escape his New Jersey home for Boston in the mid-19th century, a peppering of modern references keeps it feeling distinctly autobiographical (One song includes the lyric, “I’ve destroyed everything that wouldn’t make me more like Bruce Springsteen”). All of it, however, boasts the trademark ragged, blustering vulnerability, literate lyricism, and yelp-along anthem choruses that get fans leaping with abandon at TA’s live shows.