Pitchfork

PAS/CAL's full-length debut didn't ship in February as planned. No surprise. Leading dude Casimer Pascal has been pushing back the release date since early 2005, which would be a heckuva long time even if he were a New York rapper instead of a Michigan indie-pop perfectionist. Bigger surprise: The name of the album-- the successor to three worthy EPs-- stripped off its Citizens Army Uniform and became I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura. The first mp3, "You Were Too Old for Me", is just as schizophrenic, in a catalog that includes not just sun-kissed melodic pop, but also krautrock, Stereolab references, and a song that shoots from spaghetti Western to girl group less than a minute.

With the baroqueness of "Your Cover's Blown" or dare I say "Bohemian Rhapsody", the six-minute track stacks one catchy bit onto another, bouncing from urbane Jarvis Cocker strut to organ-wheezing double-time in the first 60 seconds alone. "Everybody needs someone they can pray to," Pascal croons, harmonizing with himself in falsetto over shaken percussion and a gritty guitar lick Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" would drink someone else's Heine for. Then melodies careen around corners like it's XTC. Somehow, there's an even brighter, wordless section from here: "Could've called you if I wanted/ Knew the number to your room," Pascal sings alone over piano. Still three minutes left: handclaps, swaying choruses, an old person and a young person not breaking up soon. The album might get here eventually, too.