Mesmerized By the Sirens

On 's second album, and his rotating pool of collaborators create another fine release, much more textured and atmospheric than and more in line with the future of the band's career. While there are again a couple of songs that have a much more conventional air (unsurprisingly, these are the ones again featuring drummer ), many now embrace unconventional verse structures and eschew immediate hooks -- it's a quietly bold move that works wonders. The mix of singers (about eight all told) and instrumentation again creates a striking variety through , even while still maintaining an overall unity in presentation. 's own musical voice is his work on keyboards, soft, minimal swells, sweeping orchestrations, and more all coming to the fore, especially on such solo cuts as and As before, is the evocative voice at the center of key songs, most notably a majestic, obsessive portrayal of love further fleshed out by 's subtle acoustic guitar and 's own strong synth arrangements. It's perhaps one of the band's most self-consciously efforts, but of a very Romantic (with a capital "r") bent, made all the more intriguing by its distinct two-part structure, with wordless singing matched with spoken word in the calmer conclusion. Another standout with is with 's harpsichord-sounding keys and 's clarinet providing the bed for the singer's bravura performance. The contrast between , who sings on is pretty clear, the latter's somewhat strained vocals not quite fitting with the album's overall flow. An amusing moment happens at the start with where singer audibly fluffs a line and laughs. It's a nice, human touch to leave in. ~ Ned Raggett