Summing up entire albums in one sentence or phrase can be a fun little blasphemy, especially… Summing up entire albums in one sentence or phrase can be a fun little blasphemy, especially when applied to a band as dynamic as Eve 6. Their first album, an emotion-packed, pop-punk, self-titled one, could be called the “High school and being a teenager sucks, even if you have a record deal” album. Their second, Horrorscope, would be more of a “Wow, things are better now that high school’s over, and look at these cool toys we can play with in the studio” effort. If you buy those as adequate descriptions, then consider their latest, It’s All in Your Head, their “I thought this stupid stuff was supposed to end with high school” record.

Every review of the album will inevitably refer to the band – and its members – growing up in some respect, and with good reason. There are signs of maturity all over the new album – for example, “Still Here Waiting,” in which drummer Tony Fagenson harps at lead singer Max Collins, “Lay off the coffee and the Kafka.” Eve 6’s new songs indicate, not just growth, but a return, as well. Bereft of most of the bells and electronic whistles that ran rampant through Horrorscope, tracks on It’s All in Your Head are connected only by an emotional, bittersweet darkness of lyricism that instantly reminds listeners of the debut and its songs of hearts in blenders and homophones of the word “pore.”But mixed with the growth is also fear. The band, which connected so well with listeners by poeticizing the common lamentations of their age group, has stayed true to that demographic by being scared of growing up. Jon Siebels, the third member of the band, said that the album is summed up in one line from the song “Good Lives:” “Promise that forever we will never get better at growing up and learning to lie,” which is underlined in the liner notes. Siebels could have picked many lines from the song, though, which is charged with a search for a lost innocence, which might confuse some who listened to their first album. Of course, though, the point is a common feeling among many in their 20s: the desire to return to a simpler, happier time that never actually existed.

Fans of Eve 6 will have little to be disappointed by It’s All in Your Head. The songwriting and musicianship are of the usual high quality, managing to be both raw and touching. Each song has its own distinct identity, giving the album a diversity the other two lacked. There is nothing resembling “Here’s to the Night” – the song off of Horrorscope that disgusted Eve 6 fans everywhere when it became a prom anthem – except maybe “Friend of Mine,” which is just a little too genuine to catch on with high school DJs. And there are plenty of surprises, most notably “Hey Montana,” an acoustic, country-blues song that you wouldn’t be shocked to hear on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York, and “Arch Drive Goodbye,” the album’s last and best track, in which Collins wryly croons: “Wanna keep you from sinking/Wanna keep you from drinking/Sometimes.”

Not everything on the new album works, or at least not perfectly. The first song, “Without You Here,” and “Hokis” are both a little musically shallow and busy-sounding, relative to some of the other more complex, moving tracks. And, overall, the lyricism lacks the brash wordplay of the first album or the straight optimism of the second, leaving it somewhere in a limbo that, while still better than most, just isn’t quite as exciting.

Still, though, the combination of learned lessons and fear of the future leaves the album as a very listenable work. Self-aware, ambitious and sometimes brilliant, It’s All in Your Head, in its better moments, connects with listeners. The empathy of Eve 6 is a familiar one, and it is when their feelings are exposed that the band is at its best. That’s true even if the feelings are those of anxiety about success and becoming workingmen instead of kids with a record deal. The latest album seems to indicate, for the first time in the band’s brief history, that they understand where their talents lie and want to make the most of them, even if that’s not the easiest choice.