After pulling the leg of the media with a clever hoax centered on a song from his previous album, skeptics may want to proceed with caution to John Vanderslice’s second outing. But there’s no sign of an elaborate prank on Time Travel Is Lonely. In fact, the lyrics here (some of which appear as scrawled letters to home inside the record sleeve) are sincerely solemn, suggesting isolation in the icy world of Antarctica. With production help from John Croslin (Spoon, Guided By Voices) and cameos by members of Beulah, For Stars, and Oranger, Vanderslice makes use of everything in his Tiny Telephone studio, applying indie rock standbys such as trumpet, Moog, drum machine, flute, and electric piano. Like his hoax that resulted from issues with technology, Vanderslice still has a bone to pick with computers, revealed when his isolated character loses use of a computer in the title track. And without email, time travel can be terribly lonely. – Kenyon Hopkin