I've been living with Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out for close to a month. I've read what all the other critics have said and I've given this careful consideration: the album is a bore. It's not terrible, but compared to previous work, it represents a low point in Yo La Tengo's career.

I even held up publication of this review from last week, to give myself seven more days to try and "get" what so many of the other critics seem to be so over the moon about. It didn't happen.

But know this: I've been a longtime supporter of Yo La Tengo. I first heard "May I Sing With Me?" on Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight back in the day and have been closely following their career ever since. I've seen their live show many times, and I even used a cut off of their '93 album "Painful" in a short film I made at NYU. While the group does have a unique and consistent sound, each album has always been a little bit different than the others. I just don't really dig the direction they've gone for this one, that's all.

My main complaint is the group's refusal to rock. There are only three songs that truly rock on this album. "Cherry Chapstick" is a welcome retread of "Sugarcube" from their stellar album I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One; "You Can Have It All," is a cover that comes closest to YLT getting funky in their entire career, and sounds a whole lot like what must have been going inside Brian Wilson's head during his darker years; and "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House," winning points for the obvious Troy McLure reasons, has that warm keyboard from the "Electr-o-pura" days, as well as a catchy as all hell hook.

That's three of thirteen. The rest is all Yo La Tengo dross. For one thing, it's gotten to the point where you just can't understand a word Georgia Hubley is singing. The fuzz and blur of the background obscures her restrained style to the point that I keep checking the wires on my stereo to make sure everything's still plugged in right. Also, the group seems to be focusing more on chaotic extraneous noises. They seemed to be pulled down out of nowhere, without order, and set free to spring around a bit in the background until they fade away. To me, this is a grave disappointment.

YLT's selling point for me has always been precision. There's not a misplaced note anywhere in their early work. Excepting for, of course, the awkward singing and lead guitar work of Ira Kaplan. The dichotomy between perfect foundation and frenetic showboating was, for me, what made Yo La Tengo one of the greatest bands of all time. This new record dismisses most of that and embraces the ambient aesthetic. I'm not overjoyed with the result.

That all but three of the songs are slow-tempo doesn't help either. Past ballads have been heartbreaking ("Nowhere Near," and "I Was The Fool Beside You For Too Long" from "Painful" come to mind) but these just bore me.

"Last Days of Disco" is a notable exception, a wonderful, somber tune wherein a lover recalls his first dance. It does have a lot of the space noises I discuss, but I think that this was a song before it became a studio experiment. Solid guitar work, as well. It shows that Ira still can whip out the perfect song, and its enough to keep me interested, even if the band continues in their new direction. The eighteen minute "Night Falls on Hoboken" is a different story, though.