bEEdEEgEE: Sum/One

Taking advantage of a pause in his day job as keyboardist and producer with New York's Gang Gang Dance, Brian DeGraw's solo debut will undoubtedly sate fans of that band's oddball pop experimentalism. Much of Sum/One is regrettably preoccupied with roping the wackiest sounds possible into a four-minute song (as heard on the clubby sci-fi synth of Like Rain Man). But when DeGraw focuses he occasionally strikes gold. Empty Vases bears traces of Flaming Lips, while the symphonic Bricks blends dashes and squeaks of colour with a taut mid-passage. Guests include dreary CSS singer Lovefoxxx (on the lifeless Flowers), but Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor fares better on the thumping FUTD. It's an uneven collection, like the aural equivalent of a splodge of paint on a wall. Still, there's something quietly triumphant about DeGraw's sense of abandon. beedeegee.com