If you spent even a modicum of time listening to college radio in the early 2000s you likely stumbled upon Michigan’s Saturday Looks Good To Me. Led by Fred Thomas, the band’s experimental indie-pop records seemed made for a more freewheeling environment than even alternative rock radio could provide. The band released seven albums and a handful of EPs between 2000 and 2007 before breaking up only to reunite in 2012. As such, it seems like Thomas dry-docked the band to focus on his two other projects, City Center and Failed Flowers, as well as a solo career that seems to have been purposely kept low-key. For his eighth and most recent solo release, All Are Saved (Polyvinyl), Thomas appears ready to shine a light on his solo endeavors, as it is his first to get widespread distribution.

It’s not particularly clear why now is the time to go public, but All Are Saved reveals that Thomas is ready for his close-up. Saturday Looks Good To Me never had one signature sound, and the experimental approach to pop let them push and pull against expectations and convention. This record has a similar tension. While it could be slotted into the singer-songwriter category, Thomas messes with expectations in similar ways. With shades of Lou Reed’s “Dirty Blvd.” and Springsteen’s “Glory Days,” the approach is closer to spoken word than straight-up singing. That’s not to say that it’s devoid of pure-pop vocals—“Monster Movie” is a particularly lovely turn—but Thomas seems slightly more interested in being as direct as possible with the record’s narratives. And it works very well. That’s due to Thomas’ ability to balance each song’s elements and his knack for drawing a scene, as on songs like “Bad Blood,” where his narrator simultaneously lashes out at a peer (“We pass on the street and say ‘hi’ cuz we have to, when both of us are really just like, ‘I fucking hate you.’”) and himself (“I know, I know. I know it’s disgusting how much I think about myself in relation to nothing, things that aren’t going to stay, just aren’t going to stay.”).

Musically, All Are Saved is an upended Tinkertoy box. Abstract soundscapes are roughly sewn to straight-ahead guitar parts, and horns wander in casually, while synths occasionally chug away in the background. There are some full band moments, but they pop up like soldiers with a day pass. It’s hard to find moments that aren’t filled with fiddly production bits, but somehow it doesn’t feel fussy or arbitrary. And with most songs hovering around the three-minute mark, the quirks don’t get a chance to drag on. It’s also interesting to note that the songs are generally hook-free, but nevertheless memorable. All Are Saved shows that Thomas has a lot of things to say and interesting ways to say them.