The Apples In Stereo, "New Magnetic Wonder" (Simian Records/Elephant 6/Yep Roc Records) - 3 stars

“New Magnetic Wonder” is The Apples In Stereo’s first full-length album in five years. The band produced five records between 1996 and 2002 and fans have long wondered what was holding up the latest release by Denver’s answer to the Beach Boys. Internal drama? Too many side projects? Too much basking in the glory of appearing on The Powerpuff Girls’ LP?

Not quite. Shuffling between five cities, the band’s guitarist/vocalist Robert Schneider was busy making up his own scale. I repeat: his own scale.

Based on mathematical equations using the properties of natural logarithms, Schneider replaced the standard twelve-tone octave with a new set of frequencies. According to Schneider, “music theory in this scale has not yet been worked out.” The results are two 30-40 second songs enticingly called “Non-Pythagorean Theorem Compositions.”

As far as I can tell, these tracks (as well as the other eight sub-minute songs on the album) sound basically like a five year old stepping on a Casio keyboard. The band’s website claims that these sounds were made using a vintage vocoder and Paul McCartney’s tape machine from “McCartney 2,” but the result is still a 30-second track that distracts from the surrounding pop glory.

Knowing that “Same Old Drag,” which is the musical equivalent of an ethereal summer day, was made using 96 tracks of instrumentation makes me think too much. When the band sticks to what it does best, the album is freed from its cerebral blueprint. The result is a good, not great, summer pop album that sounds like a cross between the Beach Boys and Of Montreal.

The album opens with cowbell on “Can You Feel It?,” which asks (and sort of answers) the question “Can you feel it? / It makes you feel so good.” Unadorned pop joy ensues with catchy songs like the aptly titled “Sunday Song,” “Crimson,” and “Open Eyes.” “Energy” sounds like it was destined for a hybrid car commercial filled with bouncing indie-loving environmentalists.

By far the best “song” is part one of “Beautiful Machine 1-2.” It’s the first half of what is intended to be the equivalent of a “grand classical concerto,” whatever that means. It opens up with a riff that sounds like something straight out of a Psychedelic Furs song and then the high-pitched harmonies of the band bounce in. Even the transition into part two of the “concerto”—a mere 90 seconds into the song—can’t ruin the pop bliss that came before.

In fact, despite all of The Apples in Stereo’s attempts to make the album brainy and conceptual, the result is something that constantly retreads old waters. The upbeat syncopation of 80’s pop and the purloined Beatles hooks combine to create something that, while enjoyable, still sounds too much like something (perhaps everything) else. “7 Stars” is good, but too familiar to be great.

Ultimately, one of those anxious fans just needs to tell Schneider to stop wasting time creating scales and instead start working on what he does best—pure old power pop.

—Reviewer Kimberly E. Gittleson can be reached at gittles@fas.harvard.edu.