Cullen Omori knows it’s a false cliché to say there are no second acts in American lives, but, after the 2014 breakup of his acclaimed band the Smith Westerns, living that cliché was his greatest fear. His solo debut, New Misery, is a direct challenge to that anxiety: an album that goes beyond the glam punch of the Smith Westerns to new sounds, new sources of inspiration, and greater self-awareness.