These Times (LP)

There are two phases of The Dream Syndicate. There was the band with revolving line-ups that existed from 1982 to 1988 and made four albums including "The Days of Wine and Roses" and "Medicine Show," both of which regularly show up on Best-Of lists and have influenced bands and delighted fans in the years since.

And then there's the band that reunited in 2012 and is closing in on its seventh year, longer than the run of Phase One, with nary a line-up change. This 21st Century version of the Dream Syndicate released "How Did I Find Myself Here" in 2017 to universal acclaim, no small feat for a band reuniting after almost three decades.

So, what does it sound like? If How Did I Find Myself Here was a 10 pm record, all swagger and cathartic explosion, then These Times is the 2 am sibling, moodier and more mercurial, the band acting as DJs of their own overnight radio station, riffing on an idea of what a Dream Syndicate album could be at this moment in time.