Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat

That’s not to say that Fagen’s new album, Morph the Cat, is filled with anything resembling joyous optimism. Fagen addresses topics like homeland security (“Security Joan”), the current administration (“Morph the Cat”) and cults (“Mary Shut the Garden Door”), as well as personal issues like impending mortality (“Brite Nightgown”). The ghost of Ray Charles even shows up on the reharmonized minor blues of “What I Do.” Nor has Fagen lost his sardonic way with words. Who else could come up with a phrase like “Rabelaisian puff of smoke”?

But Fagen grooves just a little deeper on his own than he does with Becker, giving the darker subject matter a veneer that has you bopping your head along, even as he talks of alien invasion and death—a quality that has always made both his and Steely Dan’s albums so intriguingly paradoxical. Ignore the lyrics and the polished grooves are so infectious and the playing so tasty that Fagen’s sharp wit and rich jazz harmonies become obscured by the music’s sheer visceral nature.