We Come as Aliens

Vic Godard's first new album since 2002's Sansend opens with what might well be his most self-defining statement of intent yet, the Northern soul sway of "Best Album" — self-defining because We Come as Aliens might well be just that. Cut with the latest of so many Subway Sect lineups (Mark Braby, Kev Younger, Gary Ainge, and ex-Pistol Paul Cook), 13 tracks are as intriguingly melodic as Godard has ever been, and as lyrically bright as well, while Godard's voice remains locked in its traditional place somewhere between a louche Mark E. Smith and a bored Peter Perrett. Thank goodness for the lyric sheet, screams a small nation of Godard followers, although it won't help you with "Et Meme," a Françoise Hardy song that Godard has apparently been wanting to voice since 1977, and which he gifts with the most diabolical French pronunciation this side of an English sitcom. It's a dramatic album, a collection of highs that occasionally reach toward even greater heights, and all driven along by Godard's unique approach to everything he puts his mind to. Who else could write a song about getting up in the morning and waiting for a train that never comes? And more importantly, who else would even want to?