In Mando Diao's third effort, Ode to Ochrasy, the Swedes pay tribute to a mythical time of night, those wee hours, after the show and after party, when normal people -- and most party people, too -- are in bed sleeping off the fun or preparing for another big day at the office. It's the place where a tail end of a beer buzz, the last charge onstage adrenaline rush and the lingering affects of that night's pharmaceuticals come together with the solitude and self-reflection that comes at four in the morning in a tour bus. If you're to believe Mando Diao, it's a fantastic world where anything's possible, where imagination runs the show and that curtain between dreams and reality is at its thinnest.

Maybe the band's onto something, as its Ode to Ochrasy sees the band mastering its sound and commanding its influences with an almost effortless vision that leads it to a sound that's the perfect national anthem for Ochrasy. Breezing through classic-rock influences that span everything from the raw power of the band's early garage-rock days and British Invasion melodies to Britpop's cocky retelling of the guitar-pop story, Mando Diao isn't confined to any one chunk of its record collection. It cherry-picks its best parts from dozens of bygone eras and using more than a little wit and charm, binds them fluidly together for something that's more than just a mishmash of its influences.

That's not to say that Mando Diao is anything but steeped in its influences. "Welcome Home, Luc Robitaille" boasts the energy and licks of a garage-rock outfit, though the band manages the throttle with a keen sense of art-punk pacing and ambiance. Similarly, "TV and Me" and "Long Before Rock'n'Roll" take the wildest moments from Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have it So Much Better ("Evil and a Heathen" and "Fallen") and crank the amps up to plaster-flaking levels. And while art-ifying garage rock's a trick neat enough to win over all but the most jaded hearts, Mando Diao doesn't stop there. "Morning Paper Dirt" filters The Jam's later years through a couple feet of Britpop sensibilities, and "Killer Kaczynski" and "Good Morning, Herr Horst" wrangle a bit of laid-back classic rock into the act's garage-art-pop hybrid to really confuse anyone who wants to chart the band's genome.

If it sounds clumsy and too conceptual, it's just because paper doesn't do it justice. Mando Diao's the sort of rockers who know both sides of the spectrum -- brainy pop and sweaty rock -- and aren't afraid to call on both to get the work done. Although Ode to Ochrasy leans more toward ear-wrecking rock'n'roll, it's further proof that the Swedes aren't just noisome troublemakers. They're smart, savvy disciples of pop culture.

You know that mythical place where anything can happen that's the basis for Ochrasy? Mando Diao hasn't just dreamed it. It's visited it and brought back a pile of new songs that bend logic, conventions and expectations. Sometimes, maybe, magic does happen.