The guitar-crunching "Halloweenhead," for instance, could be a Rivers Cuomo construction if not for Adams' foreboding lyrics: "Head full of tricks and treats / It leads me through the nighttime streets." It's a great rock single, even if it's a bit out of place, jammed between the lovely California country-pop of "Everybody Knows" and the spare and existential Leonard Cohenisms of "Oh My God, Whatever, Etc."
It's not a stretch to note that, lyrically speaking, Easy Tiger stalks the same interior landscape as Adams' misunderstood triumph, 29. Only this time, the lyrics are put to music that's more expansive and interesting. For example, the jazzy piano ballad "The Sun Also Sets" is surprisingly moving and melodic, while the hard-core bluegrass of "Pearls on a String" simply resonates with North Country harmonies (courtesy of Adams' backing band, the Cardinals). Easy Tiger is easy to listen to and hard to remove from your CD player.
