espite a moniker that conjures images of Mao, blacklisting and men standing defiantly in front of tanks, it is clear from his second record, Judo, that California expatriate Kevin Tihista falls distinctly into the category of the apolitical, while constantly challenging himself to redefine the image of the guitar-playing troubadour through the magic of orchestration, overdubbing and quietly subversive songwriting. It’s an image Tihista and his collaborator, Ellis Clark, are determined not to be pigeonholed by, opting instead to pick it apart, flip it upside down and put it back together so seamlessly that one never suspects it was deconstructed in the first place.


Solely on the basis of the trumpets and strings and things present here, it’s tempting to lump Judo in with the long line of would-be Masterpiece Pop Albums that have been piling up over the last five years, records self-consciously rooting out the mysteries locked in the echo chambers of Gold Star Studios, where so many California classics were recorded four decades ago. And indeed, the AM-breeze of “You’re Making Other Plans” sounds suspiciously like a lost outtake from the archives of sunshine pop svengali Curt Boettcher of Association/Millennium/Sagittarius fame, right down to Tihista’s supremely saccharine vocal and the hyper-compressed mix of the period.


Thankfully, though, Tihista and Clark are more interested in revisiting the golden age of pop than taking up permanent residence there. Not only is there an abundance of hooks, but they’re each abetted by inspired production techniques (not the least of which is the preponderance of electronic gadgetry) and melodic surprises, like the one that perfectly complicates the potentially insipid sentiment of the windswept “I’m In Love With Girls” or the swelling orchestral interludes that dominate the minimalist moebius-strip of “You Will Be Back Someday.”


In fact, each of Judo’s twelve songs invites meticulous study of its many layers without ever once seeming like an overly labored advertisement for Tasteful Songcraft, the likes of which have regretfully been a dime a dozen in recent years. It’s hard to imagine likeminded orchestral songsmiths Elliott Smith or Eric Matthews indulging themselves in the palpable sense of fun here without resorting to insufferable preciousness. It’s a sense epitomized by the let’s-get-it-on-kids vibe of “Come On Now” (programmed on MTV Music Generator 2 Playstation game, no less). If “these are heavy times,” as “You Don’t Have To Be Sorry” claims, Tihista doesn’t seem to care much to elaborate on them.


Not that Judo is unbearably twee either; from the languid escapism of opener “Back to Budapest” to the gently swinging “Love Plays A Dirty Game,” there’s quite a bit of passionate, romantic swoon to go around. It’s just that Tihista doesn’t concern himself with tortured wordplay and pseudo-profundity, opting instead to allow the music flesh out simple but appealing lyrical conceits. That the gambit pays off so winningly for a record essentially culled from the leftovers of a shelved double LP is only one of the Judo’s many surprises, the biggest of which is that it just might be the album of the summer.