20. Eclipse / Twin Shadow

Twin Shadow reaches for the girls at the back of the arena, and he almost pulls off the transition from nu-wave wunderkind to big-tent populist.  Though third album Eclipse is not as strong as its predecessors, George Lewis Jr. sheds all pretension and runs for the strobe lights, trading in icy synths and subtle guitar work for thumping bass lines and club-ready choruses, with the end result somehow just as seductive.

Lewis's late-night romanticism permeates the record, although this time he packages everything in bombast.  The big songs and production typically suit him well, but there are a couple of forgivable misses.  His voice reaches new climbs on tracks like "To the Top," which happened to be one of my boys' favorite tracks in 2015.  We pumped the power ballad with windows down on more than one occasion.

Equally as impressive, "I'm Ready" aims to be the millennial version of "In Your Eyes," replacing the boombox on the shoulders for the wave of an iPhone.  The song's distorted guitars and synths eventually give way to a rising piano line, where Lewis's solitary voice builds to the chorus payoff: I'm right here, I'm ready, I need this love!  With the hero's Camaro idling in the parking lot, it is ready-made for that perfect moment in your favorite WB drama.  But the song's strength comes from the obvious fact that it does not give a flying you-know-what about its utter earnestness.

"When the Lights Turn Out" and "Old Love/New Love" are enjoyable club bangers, while "Flatliners" and "Locked & Loaded" occupy more interesting emotional territory.  "Turn Me Up" is a well-executed slow R&B jam, and the track is better than anything on Prince's last album, for whatever that is worth.  Some fans of Twin Shadow's first two records bemoaned Eclipse's new soul-pop direction, but it is an unapologetic detour that found its way straight into my car stereo.