“The coolest thing about Climber is that there’s nothing cool about us anymore,” says Climber frontman Michael Nelson. The band’s long-awaited third release, The Mystic (2010), is a curtain pulled back revealing four musicians that simply aren’t afraid to be themselves anymore. It’s taken a few years, but these days Climber is truly playing music like no one’s watching. The result is a baker’s dozen songs that defy stereotypes. From the soulful, space-pop of “The Simians Speak,” which kicks off the album, you’re left wondering: Is this a concept album? A dance album for Mensans? Other tracks, like “Stepping Into New Rooms” and “I Have Seen Everything,” jump along with a kind of looseness and beat-sensibility reminiscent of the new wave. Thomas Dolby? Talking Heads? And still other tracks, like “The Risk Of The Middle Way” and “We Are The New Man,” swell into big, timeless scores that wouldn’t feel out of place in a 1940’s film. Is that a vint...