Imagine sensitive indie rock reduced to steady drum pulses and lonely guitar chords, and you have the beginnings of The Whitest Boy Alive. Frontman Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience) doesn’t waste a breath, casually muttering pained declarations-like “Patience is just another word for getting old”-as if the only audience he’s playing to is the man in the mirror. This is a masterful example of the kind of moving but pensive music that accompanies breakups in teen movies. If that isn’t a dig in your book, pick up this album.