For the last 10 years, when Danny Seim hasn’t been busy supplying battering drums to Menomena’s exercises in pop deconstruction, he’s retreated into his basement to record as Lackthereof. His latest album and second proper release under the Lackthereof guise, Your Anchor, proves that all those years toiling in the basement have paid off, and that Seim’s solo project deserves as much attention as his better known band.

Initially, Your Anchor sounds quite similar to Menomena’s 2007 breakthrough Friend or Foe, largely due to Seim’s off-kilter drumming, but on closer inspection the two albums possess an important difference. Where Menomena are concerned with tearing down the walls of pop songwriting and rebuilding them however they see fit, Seim is satisfied slapping on a new coat of paint and hanging a few pictures. Though this difference makes Your Anchor less thrilling than Friend or Foe’s best moments, it allows Seim to slow down and focus primarily on melody. The album still contains its fair share of experimental moments, but instead of being the crux of a song, they’re subtle rewards for close listening, a task which Your Anchor makes easy.