With a past that includes stints as both a duffel-coated model of coffee house folkiness and a mega- selling CD-era monster, Paul Simon remains a blend of free-range experimentation and mainstream dinner party soundtrack. Surprise, his first album since 2000’s You’re the One, doesn’t quite live up to its title, following in the path of U2 by relying on the brainbox producer Brian Eno’s “sonic landscapes” for quirks and novelty.

Yet it is always mildly impressive when established artists with an enduring career don’t just phone in their latest album from a pillow of laurels and platinum discs. On Surprise it is clear that Simon has kept an eye on the modern world. Lyrically he deals with God, government and alienation — and avoids the perils of Bono-style sloganeering.

The buoyant opener How Can You Live in the North East? is an impressionistic take on the American Dream in an age of division and fear, and Simon has a way of pleading for human decency that doesn’t make him seem like a hack working for a greetings card company. “Trust your intuition/ It’s just like going fishin’” he sings on Father and Daughter, while the lullabying hush of Beautiful is a testament to building a modern family — “We brought a brand new baby back from Bangladesh/ thought we’d name her Emily” — over the pattering of tiny drums.

Unfortunately, the expansive electronic texturing of Everything About it is a Love Song — with guitar from Bill Frisell — and Another Galaxy seems to have been mistaken for finished songs. Even such ostensibly personal tracks as That’s Me and Father and Daughter are oddly unengaging, with Simon’s conversational vocal style and Eno’s clever backdrops creating an emotional airlock. There are compelling moments — the street rhythms of Outrageous, for example, or the sudden cynical flare-up of I Don’t Believe. Ultimately, though, Surprise maintains a steady heartbeat throughout, never raising its pulse or a sweat in the name of excitement.

Warners