Grade: B | Andrew Bird’s latest release is a collection of surprisingly catchy songs disguised by a gritty, lo-fi production and Depeche Mode-like vocal harmonies.

The 12 songs vary between sophisticated garage rock, exotic pop melodies, spaced-out shuffles and irresistible sing-along choruses. The instrumentation is elaborate and sophisticated, but manages to avoid cluttering up Bird’s superbly-written pop songs.

The singing is also very strong on the album but stays in the lower register for the majority of the songs. The crooned vocal melody on “Scythian Empires” is perhaps the most effective vocal turn on “Armchair Apocrypha,” turning an average chord progression and melody into an emotional musical piece.

The production, on the other hand, is far from sophisticated. Drummer Kevin O’Donnell sounds like a cheap drum machine, and the vocal harmonies are sometimes buried in the mix. The strummed acoustic and electric guitars that weave throughout the album are thin-sounding, as if they were played with a razor blade instead of a pick, providing a flimsy musical foundation for the excellent synthesizer squiggles and swells that dominate the recording.

However, the missteps fail to dilute the sheer fun of the album. Bird is a masterful pop tunesmith, and songs like “Cataracts” and “Imitosis” are filled with great hooks and memorable choruses.

Armchair Apocrypha lacks the dynamics and sound quality to be considered a great album, but the fine pop songwriting makes for a very intriguing listen.