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On their 12th studio album in 20 years, this venerated indie-rock trio finally rides out of the ballad-heavy cul de sac of its most recent albums. This effort is framed by 10-minute guitar-drone meltdowns, and in between is a dizzying run through 40 years of musical influences: jaunty Kinks-like pop (“Beanbag Chair”), a gentle violin-stroked ballad (“I Feel Like Going Home”), a frisky Latin dance number with horns (“Mr. Tough”), Paisley-era psychedelia (“The Race is On Again”), and “Nuggets”-era garage rock (“I Should Have Known Better”). In its dizzying array of styles, “I Am Not Afraid” comes close to matching the allure of the New Jersey band’s 1997 classic, “I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One.”
