Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen has a new album entitled “Morph the Cat” that was finally released earlier this month after 13 years since his last solo effort.

“Morph the Cat” follows Fagen’s 1982 album “The Nightfly” and 1993’s “Kamakiriad,” making it the last of what is considered to be a musical trilogy.

“‘The Nightfly’ is sort of looking from the standpoint of youth,” Fagen said. “‘Kamakiriad’ would be more about midlife. This new one is about endings, really.”

Although the album only contains nine tracks, the song lengths run longer than most. The shortest track runs a little over four minutes while the longest extends to more than seven minutes.

The songs do contain lyrics, but the album is more about the music. There’s no hiding the album’s obvious jazz and soulful theme. Trumpets, flutes and saxophones are used in almost every track. Some harmonica, tenor sax and guitar solos make this album shine as if it were another instrumental-filled record.

It sounds like the kind of music that can be heard while sitting in a waiting room or walking around in a department store- and that’s not meant in a bad way. It’s the kind of music most people wouldn’t mind listening to because it’s easy on the ears.

There’s no stressing when listening to the stories behind each song either because Fagen’s voice is nowhere near sounding angry or upset. He maintains a mellow sound that is complemented with harmonica solos in songs such as “Mary Shut the Garden Door” and “What I Do.” They provide an easy comfort to the listener’s ears and the constant piano and guitar use in tracks like “The Great Pagoda of Funn” and “The Night Belongs to Mona” makes this album perfect for some relaxation time.

Don’t expect hearing stories of love triangles or violent deaths in the lyrics either, because the album doesn’t exactly follow the rules of today’s top hits.

“I operate under ’70s rules no matter what time it is,” Fagen said. “It’s a contract I have with my mind. I just keep forging on no matter what and reality doesn’t have much to do with it.”

Released by Reprise Records and written and produced by Fagen himself, “Morph the Cat” is in stores now. For more information on Fagen or the album, click here.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Aleesa Camagong can be reached at [email protected].