• “Sequel” to brilliant The Stage Names goes pop without compromise.

Will Sheff takes a novelist’s approach to his songwriting. Characters more realistic than 90 per cent of those found in this summer’s blockbuster movies populate his dense and intricate stories. What’s even better is that he’s not above writing a pop song. The setting he creates in “Singer Songwriter” is incredibly vivid, but it’s unpretentiously tucked into four minutes of uptempo folk-rock that doesn’t require a religious reading of the liner notes to appreciate.

This is what you get throughout The Stand Ins, the “sequel” to last year’s brilliant The Stage Names. On this instalment, Sheff remains unapologetically theatrical but avoids the high-concept approach he attempted on Stage Names’ “Plus Ones,” on which he wove a narrative using famous numerical songs (“99 Luftballons,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”). This time around he’s writing smaller songs that are no less biting, like a superhero that has learned to control his powers.

Instead of striking out, Sheff turns some of his lyrical barbs inward, especially on “Pop Lie” and “Calling and Not Calling My Ex.” The former is a skewering of insincere pop music, while ironically containing the album’s best hook. The latter is a display of self-absorption on par with Dashboard Confessional, but with the kind of witty rejoinders that Chris Carrabba would kill for. When the album stops to take a breath, as on “Blue Tulip” and “On Tour with Zykos,” Sheff’s writing remains strong.

Even with his English major’s vocabulary, it’s amazing how Sheff is able to keep the album from getting bogged down in riddles, à la The Decemberists. The Stand Ins is light and airy — even fun — without being compromising.