Japandroids, Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers

Vancouver’s Japandroids make a heaving racket for a duo. Against the odds, their first two albums—2009’s Post-Nothing and 2012’s aptly titled Celebration Rock—made the hoary concept of anthemic indie rock sound as vital and passionate as Squirrel Bait’s self-titled EP and Hüsker Dü’s New Day Rising. (Jeez, 1985 kind of ruled for this kind of rock.) Overflowing earnestness of this sort usually rubs me the wrong way, but Japandroids’ non-ironic, abundant gusto somehow doesn’t cloy, as it does with so much emo. Unfortunately, the Japandroids magic has dissipated on the new Near to the Wild Heart of Life. The energy is tempered and the melodies buffed to a sheen, making this album sound like a Cheap Trick/Def Leppard sandwich with too much sugar poured on it. But that may just be what your sweetest dreams are made of. DAVE SEGAL