Failed Comeback
Eminem
Relapse
(Interscope)
**1/2
Apparently having heard the rumours that he was washed up, Eminem has once again honed in on the darkest parts of his psyche (a surprise, considering how bright and breezy he seemed on his previous albums) in hopes of recapturing the compelling mix of humour and psychodrama that made The Marshall Mathers LP such an attention-grabber. Well, Mr. Mathers’ familiar old demons — his mom, his stepfather, his ex-wife — all make return appearances on Relapse, but the only reaction they’re likely to provoke is a weary “Yeah, this dude’s sure got issues.” “I was born with a dick in my brain / Yeah, fucked in the head,” he announces on “Insane” — but this time out, the line sounds pathetic and painful instead of funny. It’s good to see Eminem has ended his five-year hiatus from the recording studio, but the mind-numbing darkness of Relapse, coupled with Dre’s equally tiresome production, gets real old, real quick. And there’s still Relapse 2 to follow later this year.
CURTIS WRIGHT

Angelic Harmonies!
Au Revoir Simone
Still Night, Still Light
(Our Secret)
****
Every time a song by Au Revoir Simone pops up on my iPod, the effect is instantly relaxing. But is “pops up” even the right way to describe the way the music of this all-female Brooklyn trio hits your ears? Perhaps “wafts” would be a better word: with their ultra-feminine, airier-than-Air harmonies, each Au Revoir Simone album seems borne on the backs of clouds. It’s the kind of music that the girls from Picnic at Hanging Rock might have sung, all assembled in their lacy summertime dresses, if their school choir had access to some ’80s synthesizers and drum machines. Still Night, Still Light doesn’t fundamentally alter the sound they established on their first two albums, Verses of Assurance, Comfort & Salvation and The Bird of Music, so much as it refines it to new heights of dreamy yearning that makes The Postal Service sound like Queens of the Stone Age. Highlights include the hypnotic “Anywhere You Looked,” with its line about wavelengths magnetically pulling you toward your lover; and “All or Nothing,” which closes with the band resigning themselves to “gaze and daze and fall to dream something familiar.” Put this album on before you fall asleep and you might do the same.
PAUL MATWYCHUK

Cock Rock For Girls
Tori Amos
Abnormally Attracted to Sin
(Universal)
****
Like most of the albums that preceded it, Tori Amos’ 10th is a grower rather than a show-er. Amos is a master of layering sounds, and on Abnormally Attracted to Sin, she unabashedly displays her love of Led Zeppelin and ’70s cock rock. The best songs feel like a battle (or perhaps a tug-of-war) between the masculine and the feminine: gorgeous, haunting piano lines vs. heavy rock guitars. On album closer “Lady in Blue,” the war really comes to a head as an evocative meditation on love, rebellion, and loss is seamlessly devoured by guitars. That said, this is the third Amos disc in a row that is probably better listened to as a pared-down playlist. Some of the songs that could go are the overly cutesy pot ditty “Mary Jane” (though the line “Dr. Tetrahydrocannabinol Pure Isomer Dronabinol” almost saves it) and “500 Miles,” which is the sonic equivalent of aspartame. [For a contrary opinion on Tori Amos’ latest, read Fish Griwkowsky’s “Listen” column at right.]
CLARA LOGINOV

Ghastly Album Covers
Empire Of The Sun
Walking on a Dream
(Virgin)
***
It’s a good thing for Empire of the Sun that I don’t judge books (or albums) by their cover, because Walking on a Dream’s artwork is a complete nightmare: a couple of New Wave-looking goofs with ridiculous haircuts, one of them musing to himself while holding an orb (an orb!) as a tiger leaps by, as they pose in front of what I can only describe as a futuristic utopian waterworld. It’s obviously meant as a joke, but it’s still terrible. However, it’s what’s inside that counts, and Walking on a Dream isn’t a complete waste. In fact, this pair of sunshiny electro-glam acid-trippers from Australia have put out an undeniably catchy and cheerful album which fits well alongside fellow hipsters MGMT and Hot Chip (although with a much more fantastical and sci-fi vibe). The title track especially feels destined to be a summertime hit, with its ’80s cheese-beats, falsetto vocals, and lyrics about “running for the thrill of it / Always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it.” Searching for what, though, I’m not sure. A place to store their orb?
CURTIS WRIGHT

Unnecessary Umlaut
Maxïmo Park
Quicken the Heart
(Warp)
***
When following up an album as grey and heel-dragging as 2007’s Our Earthly Pleasures, it wasn’t a bad idea for spiky Newcastle quintet Maxïmo Park to try rebranding itself a little. But buyer beware: Quicken the Heart, while on the whole peppier, still won’t set your pulse racing nearly as fast as the group’s full-throttle debut, A Certain Trigger. The diminishing returns, sadly, continue. As on the sophomore record, there are moments of inspiration to be found amidst the soundalikes. “Wraithlike” uses an air raid siren in the chorus for maximum effect; similarly, epic-in-training “The Kids Are Sick Again” works best when Lukas Wooler distorts his keyboards until they may as well be sirens too. And I remain a fan of singer Paul Smith’s literate gentleman-dandy persona, even when it results in lyrical paperweights like “The Penultimate Clinch.” But a larger reinvention may be in order — maybe drop the guitars altogether and make an album full of the electronic shimmers from “Tanned.” Otherwise, my attention is wandering.
MICHAEL HINGSTON