The new project from singer/songwriter/provocateur Ralph Spight, formerly head of the long-running art punks Victim’s Family, is a bit of a surprise from the first track on. Said opener, “Ex-Wife,” is by some distance the poppiest song Spight has ever been a part of, a downright catchy slice of fuzzed-guitar power pop that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Guided By Voices album. From there, Spight and an ever-changing cast of backing musicians run the gamut from piano-based singer/songwriter territory (“You’re the Reason,” which later reappears as a punky pop rave-up) to Jonathan Richman-meets-LMNOP faux naif (the charmingly bilious “Spring Fever”) to tongue-in-cheek hard rock (“Never Going Back to Petaluma”). None of it should be taken very seriously, but the eclecticism and general sense of relaxed fun make The Freak Accident one of Spight’s most enjoyable albums. – Stewart Mason