I’ve been playing Um, Uh Oh, the new album from Say Hi, a lot in the two weeks since it arrived, a rarity among recent releases. The seventh album from Seattle’s Eric Elbogen (and his second for Barsuk Records) gets better with every listen, especially as I remind myself that each little sonic piece is his doing alone.

Distancing himself further from Say Hi’s earlier preciousness (winning as it was in those “To Your Mom” days), Elbogen adopts a drawl and a sometimes raspy delivery this time around. On Um, Uh Oh, he sets forth on the road of devils and dust, singing “We’re only in Dakota… en route to bigger cities” in the album’s rolling opener, “Dots On Maps.” There’s the bluesy shiver and shake of “Devils” and “Shiny Diamonds,” while songs like “Lookin’ Good,” “Handsome Babies,” and especially “All The Pretty Ones,” ring of lo-fi Springsteen. Hear here:

There’s definitely an Americana bent to much of Um, Uh Oh, with the closing one-two punch of “Trees Are A Swayin'” and the laid-bare heartbreak of “Bruises To Prove It” bringing Steve Earle, Wilco, and Ryan Adams to mind. But this round of Say Hi stitches together a crazy-quilt of influences, with swaths of Violent Femmes and Radiohead (“Sister Needs A Settle”) and threads of The Cure (“Take Ya’ Dancin'”) embedded within. In the aforementioned “Handsome Babies,” one guitar part bends Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” while another is tuned to Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins. And the sprawling “Posture Inc.” could be a bonus track from the latest Arcade Fire album, a band whose debt to The Boss and Radiohead has been well documented.

Elbogen packs all of this into a 35-minute set of twelve songs, with Um, Uh Oh playing like a favorite mixtape. That makes unmasking just who Say Hi is these days a twisty endeavor, but no less a rewarding listen. Give Um, Uh Oh a spin, and you’ll pick up pieces of artists you already dig, delivered by one of the best “bands” you might not know.

Purchase Say Hi – Um, Uh Oh via iTunes, Amazon MP3.