You don't actually have to watch Smallville or Dawson's Creek or Gilmore Girls to guess what The Comas' attention-grabbing "Tonight on the WB" might sound like. The song's opening chords are so decidedly SoCal rock, you can practically picture the preppy, sun-drenched campuses of the WB: tank tops and long, blonde locks parading across your screen while The Comas' perfectly-cued track rolls and singer Andy Herod hiccups, "You feel like a hole in space". Musically, the song owes a debt of gratitude to Blue Album-era Weezer, but conceptually, The Comas' take on sunny surf rock is as hip as it gets, fairly dripping with the jaded sarcasm of the 21st century. It may be easy to imagine the song soundtracking any one of the WB's heartfelt moments, but in the end, it's just a parody...of both the network and the ways in which we let our lives resemble such soap opera drama.

"Tonight on the WB" may be Conductor's first impressive track, but it's certainly not the last. In fact, the album is rife with sleeper tracks, their tune and words just the sort that work slowly into your consciousness. One day you're listening to an unassuming rock record with hints of surfing and shoegazing in its rich, layered tracks, and the next thing you know, you're singing along to the broken-hearted modern-day electric-guitar blues. "Employment" sets the working stiff's day to pounding power chords, transforming "one hour lunch break steal a smoke make a joke" into an anthem for the disenchanted. "The Science of Your Mind", "L'angostia y Vino" and "Falling" slow down just enough to allow the lovelorn heartache to be audible. Altogether, Conductor is something of an epic: it's an album about modern life, about what it's like to work and love and dream and suffer amidst the impersonality of technology. It's an album about being outshone by the glow from your TV screen...and those perky, perfect WB characters.

To reinforce the point, Conductor includes a filmic aspect as well -- essentially an album-length music video -- which animates the trials and heartache described in its songs. Amid a gray, futuristic landscape, a cast of lost souls act out their parts. Although a bit plodding at times, the film (by Brent Bonacorso) is both visually compelling and expertly produced. Above all, it effectively heightens perception of the album as a piece of art.

With its underlying message and unconventional approach, Conductor is easily one of the headiest records of the year. The Comas clearly had a lot on their minds while they were making it, and they've expressed themselves with impressive articulation. There are so many layers to the disc -- musically, lyrically, philosophically, visually -- that it may take a while to unravel. But that first irresistible hook from any one of their songs -- that you'll understand right away.