Ike Reilly – Poison The Hit Parade

“Who says you can’t take a shot at the President/Just say you’re sorry and be on your way.” Looking at the song titles on the new album from the Ike Reilly Assassination (though only the singer-songwriter Reilly is named on the front cover this time, his band is still on board), one could be forgiven for assuming that lyric is from “New Assassination Blues”. Instead, it’s part of the ever-elusive swirl of images in “Fish Plant Rebellion”, which has something to do with labor unions and cuckoldry at a fish processing factory.

As he has demonstrated on his previous albums, especially 2005’s Junkie Faithful and 2007’s We Belong To The Staggering Evening, Ike Reilly assembles words as much for the sound they make together as for the immediately obvious meaning they provide. There is communication here, but you get it from the way the thick, fuzzed-out guitar/bass/keyboards/drums lineup supports Reilly’s Dylan-with-a-libido vocal approach, and the way they emphasize individual phrases in the course of a song.

Take “Hip Hop Thighs #16”. The music is a feel-good jaunt, almost an Irish folk tune with a meandering, sing-song melody meant for dancing a jig. Near as I can figure, the song — which begins with an actual voice-mail from the late Joe Strummer of the Clash — has something to do with the intoxication provided by music, friendship and sex. There’s Strummer in love with hip-hop and Patsy Cline, trying to write a song as good as “I Walk The Line”. Amid good-natured ribbing between friends, there is a strong undercurrent and sometimes just plain current of desire.