Pretty. Odd.

On their second release Panic at the Disco lay out their cheeky intentions immediately with a brief opening ditty that proclaims: “Oh, how we’ve been so long/we’re sorry we’ve been gone/we were busy writing songs for you!” before erupting into a cheering crowd. The self-referential schtick and some of the sillier lyrics can get a bit thick but there’s no denying that they’re having a good time and it’s all charming enough to pull listeners along. They try to hide their ambition behind runaway goofiness but there are too many good hooks and hummable melodies to truly believe that they don’t know what they’re doing. And as soon as you think that maybe they’re taking none of it seriously they throw off a lovely tune like “Northern Downpour.” Stylistically it’s all miles from their 2005 debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. This time around they toss in a bit of everything, including strings, horn fills, swirling harmonies, even a mock-vaudevillian interlude in “I Have Friends in Holy Places.” To say that Pretty. Odd. is often over the top is as obvious as some of the corny wordplay.