The Philistines Jr. / Stephin Merritt

Estranged Dead Kennedy Jello Biafra once sang I like short songs, and here are 68 nuggets that might make the old crank smile. The Philistines Jr. offers 52(!) on an album that’s like an enormous assorted chocolates box with no scary fillings. After loading the first eighteen tracks with enchanting abstract instrumentals and pop ditties driven by cheery, quirky vocals, the group enters the “solos” section of the disc, which divides one epic jam into fifteen-second segments devoted to each instrument. The bass, guitar, trumpet, clarinet, sax, trombone, flute, drums and turntables all get close-ups in a song that remains so cohesive that anyone who wasn’t watching the track numbers tick away wouldn’t notice the gimmick.

Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields fame), who went the Philistines Jr. seventeen better with 2000’s 69 Love Songs, also gives his instruments individual attention. On “This Little Ukulele,” he needs a mere 79 seconds to capture hearts with just his voice, the tune’s titular instrument and a tale of a grand-scale dreamer’s struggle to make due with modest means. “Tiny Flying Player Pianos” pairs the keys’ tinkling cacophony with the narrator’s crippling exhaustion. For all of their melodic charms, most of the songs communicate an equally forlorn message. If Eban & Charley, the film about an intergenerational gay relationship to which Merritt’s songs provide the soundtrack, matches the murky mood of the music, it might be challenging and difficult to endure. But if it matches the album’s quality, it will also rank among the year’s most satisfying viewing experiences.