Take, for example, the second track, “French Bacon.” This tells a tragic story of two people, the narrator and a nameless girl, who are tangled in a contradictory relationship: a painful attachment they both need. What results is an unfortunate compromise, a muted-sounding rendition of its older dumb-but-fun style that is at best unevenly enjoyable. In Heartbeats and Brainwaves, Electric Six tries to extricate itself, but also can’t quite pull itself away, from the now-worn unabashed manliness of its early days. Electric Six is older now, and evidently getting tired of the testosterone rock trimmings that long underpinned its popularity.

This is surprising for a band that once reveled in dumbness. At one point in the track, frontman Dick Valentine sings I’m the king of the submarines / making terrible music for teens. Heartbeats and Brainwaves’ opener “Psychic Visions” seemingly constitutes an admission of wrongdoing.