Stark, down to its arresting cover art, with themes addressing darker than usual delights and emotionally fraught situations, up to and including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Dirk Wears White Sox seems on the face of it to be radically different from the work of Adam Ant the world came to know. But on his group’s debut album he still exudes a wry humor that prevents things from being too po-faced, while the clipped catchiness of songs like “Cleopatra,” “Never Trust a Man With Egg On His Face,” “Day I Met God” and more besides can’t be ignored.

– Ned Raggett