Jennings retraces his dim past in new album 'Wild Dark Metal' (A)

With an album title like “Wild Dark Metal,” it’s safe to say I was more than a little hesitant pressing play on a newly unwrapped metallic vinyl. I was used to Minnesota-based singer-songwriter Mason Jennings’ swoon-worthy love songs, quirky folk melodies and poetically simplistic lyricism.

What happened to that chick-flick soundtrack voice I had originally fallen so in love with? To my surprise, it was still there after all, only topped off with jam-like electric guitars and razor-sharp honesty.

“Death Grips” is a reference to an experimental hip hop group by the same name, but really, the lyrics couldn’t be any more of a juxtaposition. If you actually dare to listen to Death Grips, lead MC Ride isn’t shy about vulgarities, much less using phallic album art. And here Mason sings to a girl that “You are so beautiful just as you are / Yours is the only face I see.”

But that’s what makes this album work so well. Jennings dances between the stark contrast of love and darkness, and we never question that the two haven’t gone together. His hardened, beat-up sound can be chalked up to experience, but in the midst, he resolves to sing about what he knows best anyway.

Jennings performed “Everglades” when I saw him in concert in November at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room. The song prowls around the bayous of Louisiana as he echoes what seems to be a cryptic message. Lyrics like “crocodiles splash” draw you into the boathouses of the swamps, looking behind closed doors you’re not supposed to.

“Two Dollar Man” strikes a chord back with Jennings' 2009 release “Blood of Man.” The studio album took a diagonal step in the direction of old-school rock ‘n’ roll and introduced an even more stripped down version of himself. It was the beginning of raw yet powerful amplifiers evident again seven years later.

Things slow down with “How I Feel About You,” a song fit for your crush showing up at your front door with an acoustic guitar. It’s a more familiar Mason, too. “Come on now / Surely you know / How I feel about you” has only one songwriter’s touch to it.

“Wild Dark Metal” isn’t as hardcore as it lets on. Jennings couldn’t escape his sappy love stories no matter how hard he tried. Then again, maybe that’s his point.