Rock/Pop

The latest releases reviewed.

LISA GERRARD The Silver Tree Nettwerk Productions *****

Former Dead Can Dance founder, successful solo artist and emerging film composer (Gladiator, Whale Rider), Lisa Gerrard has developed one of the most extraordinary contemporary music instruments of the last three decades - her voice. A unique force with a distinct colour, tone and range, Gerrard's voice is equally fluent in both Western early music and choral traditions and in Indian and Middle Eastern vocal techniques. Her new solo album, her first since 1995's austere The Mirror Pool, is an astonishing display of her exquisite and effortless virtuosity, combining songs with instrumental pieces - more cinematic than ambient - and eclectic acoustic instrumentation (dulcimer, electric guitar and bells) with shimmering electronic textures and found sounds. The Silver Tree is one of Gerrard's best, a near-perfect distillation of a unique artist's genre-defying musical evolution. www.nettwerk.com . JOCELYN CLARKE

Download tracks: The Sea Whisperer, Space Weaver, Serenity

RORY FAITHFIELD Circle Dance ***

Third time out and Sydney-born, Dublin-based singer-songwriter Rory Faithfield is, fittingly, veering closer to the turf of his fellow Antipodeans, Grant McLennan and Paul Kelly, than to Damien Rice. He makes the best of that hoary old guitar/harmonica backdrop with a wistful collection of tales of ornery sanity and madness. Vocally unremarkable, Faithfield might well carry a candle for The Go-Betweens, particularly on the pitch-perfect Gone To Hell. A slow burner that insinuates itself beneath the skin with a touch too much modesty, Circle Dance occasionally hits storytelling's burning magma, that place where characters come alive against a backdrop that buffers and taunts in equal measure. Follow The River reveals this magic at its best, even if such moments are fleeting. www.faithfield.com. SIOBHÁN LONG

Download Tracks: Follow The River, Gone To Hell

GILBERT O'SULLIVAN A Scruff at Heart Bygum Records ***

Curiously influential over the years - any Smiths fan worth their salt will tell you that Gilbert O'Sullivan's 1970s hit singles Nothing Rhymed, We Will and Alone Again (Naturally) had a deep and lasting impact on Morrissey's nascent miserabalist schtick - Waterford-born O'Sullivan's new album might be short on perceived credibility but it nonetheless bubbles over with the kind of pop nous and melody that, say, Paul McCartney's latest record simply doesn't have. Indeed, if there's any pop songwriter out there that has taken Macca's solo pop blueprint and run with it into the undergrowth it's O'Sullivan. It's a safe bet to state that nothing on this record will make an impact on the charts, but if you value good, witty songs written and sung by an eternally unfashionable 61-year-old resident of Jersey, then you'll like this. www.gilbertosullivan.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA

Download tracks: A Proper Fool, One Door Closes

VARIOUS Rakehell's Revels Pale Blue ***

Once a week, rakes, cads and an assortment of female admirers convene at the Rakehell's Revels club in London to celebrate an era of swing and bygone style. While glamorous revellers attired in flapper-wear and tails cut a dash around the room, the music regaling these club-goers is every jot as wicked and daring. After all, there's a sinister menace, spooky ambience and hugely attractive drag to Artie Shaw's dramatic Nightmare. Shaw's track is just one of many highlights on a compilation of swingtime boom tunes from the club, all of which were minted long before rock'n'roll even had a moniker to call its own. Be it how Ella Fitzgerald scats through Bei Mir Bist du Schon or the crazy scattergun array of sounds that Louis Jordan culls for Run Joe, prepare to be dazzled. Best of all, you won't need to carry a cane or don a top hat. www.myspace.com/ rakehells. JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Artie Shaw - Nightmare, Chick Webb - T'Aint What You Do

VARIOUS ARTISTS From The Velvets To The Voidoids WEA/Rhino ****

Clinton Heylin's clumsily titled book, A Pre-Punk History For A Post-Punk World: From The Velvets To The Voidoids, was the inspiration for this double CD tie-in. There's always been a bit of a discourse about the separate strands of US and UK punk, and on this you get a very clear indication of just how much The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and MC5 were the building blocks for the CBGB's malcontents of the mid 1970s. The music here is uniformally excellent, from The Velvet's Sweet Jane and The Stooges' No Fun up to select tracks from Talking Heads, Television, The Ramones, Blondie and Devo. There's also a very welcome run-out for Johnny Thunders' You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory. Blink-182 should really listen to this - repeatedly. BRIAN BOYD

Download tracks: The Stooges - No Fun, The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

WHEAT Everyday I Said a Prayer for Kathy and Made a One Inch Square Ever Records ***

Wheat captured our hearts with their second album, the quietly wondrous Hope & Adams, but the band subsequently disintegrated due to management and record label wrangles. The release of their fourth album, featuring the core duo of Scott Levesque and Brendan Harney, is a long-overdue reminder of why we liked them. It's good to know there are bands around (such as Wilco and Low) who can still blend pop sensibility with a rootsy attitude and an air of sonic experimentalism. The strange, dreamy brew is there on Closeness, Little White Dove, What You Got and I Had Angels Watch Over Me, all of which take a circuitous route through myriad sounds and ideas before coming to rest with the satisfying certainty of having been somewhere. www.wheatmusic.com KEVIN COURTNEY

Download Tracks: Closeness, I Had Angels Watch Over Me

JEFF BUCKLEY So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley  Sony/BMG **

All that's on offer here that is not readily available elsewhere are two rare tracks - the live acoustic version of So Real and an empathic cover of The Smiths' I Know It's Over. The fact that they have to scream that the So Real track was recorded in Japan (who cares?) says it all about how they are really desperate to talk this one up. It's difficult to recommend a whole album that really only has these two songs on it (Buckley fans will have everything else on here), but if it's your first experience of Buckley, then this is a good starting point. www.jeffbuckley.com

BRIAN BOYD

Download tracks: So Real, I Know It's Over

BONDE DO ROLE With Lasers Domino ****

Chances are you won't understand a word of what Bonde Do Role are on about on this album, but anyone schooled in modern pop's lexicon will have few problems deciphering the tearaway euphoria of their debut album. Extravagant, rambunctious and clamorous, With Lasers is the sound of three very smart Brazilian kids mixing the furious underground baile funk of their homeland with pop, metal and rave. In other hands, this might be a mismatch, but Bonde Do Role uncover grooves and hooks in the midst of the sonic barrage which means this methodology works time and time again. A dozen tracks clock in at just under 30 minutes, so With Lasers doesn't give you time to get bored, each track sung or shouted in Portuguese slang possessing more fun, energy and vim than anything else on offer this season. www.myspace.com/ bondedorole JIM CARROLL

Downtrack tracks: Danca do Zumbi, Office Boy, Solta o Frango