In their follow-up to the stellar 2010 album The Monitor, Titus Andronicus pulls out an intellectually stimulating and, at times, frustrating album in Local Business. Local Business throws out a large part of the harder rock influences of The Monitor and shifts to a more melodic Americana-based sound with punk elements. Sure, tracks like “Titus Andronicus vs. The Absurd Universe (Round 3)” and “Food Fight” keep the harder edge to them. But largely, there is a shift in direction towards bands like The Lumineers, and even shades of Wilco in the folk roots of songs like “Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape With the Flood of Detritus” and “(I Am The) Electric Man,” which takes a heavy turn towards folk-rock.

But what really makes Local Business stand out is the quality of each track. Each song on its own has the potential to be a gem, with opening track “Ecce Homo” being a wonderful cross of smart philosophical lyrics and shredded chords. But what is frustrating is that it almost seems like Local Business lost the charm of The Monitor. So much effort has been placed on being smart and serious that the moments of forced fun, like “Food Fight,” simply ring hollow in the face of what could have been a monumentally epic album. Granted, this frustration only reduces the album on the whole from being “great” to simply “very good,” but it’s a shame that Titus Andronicus did not reach their full potential here. Local Business has the hallmarks of being a classic album, but simply did not work out its own bugs and hang-ups that prevented it from being astounding.

(XL Recordings, 304 Hudson Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10013)