Latest CD releases reviewed

REGINA SPEKTOR
Begin to Hope Warners/WEA
***

Regina Spektor, self-appointed queen of anti-folk, has a voice pitched somewhere between Cat Power and Stina Nordenstam. She sounds like a chirpy child with the odd bout of hiccups, but there's wisdom and intellect aplenty in her lyrics. Like a Russian doll (and not because of her Moscow birth and big eyes), Spektor presents many versions of herself, all tucked up in the same person, layering themes about heritage and identity over clever instrumentation. Take Fidelity, where staccato strings are used as a bass line, or the dizzying piano scales of 20 Years of Snow. Spektor's previous work revelled in its louche scruffiness, but Begin to Feel sounds over-polished and lacks her usual charm. Spektor's barroom cooing and pop proclivities, however, still possess a playful artistry. www.reginaspektor.com

Sinéad Gleeson
MUSEBlack Holes and Revelations WEA
**

With their much-fabled new direction, Muse appear to want to eschew the overt influence of grunge rock in favour of a pantomime pop approach. It's odd, then, that hardly anything has changed. They were always more Freddie than Kurt anyway, and Black Holes still sounds like Queen produced by Jim Steinman, only this time written by Björn and Benny. Opener Take a Bow is as camp as Christmas; Matt Bellamy has never sounded so music hall, especially when trying to appease Teignmouth moshers with lines like, "You will burn in hell for your sins!" Map of the Problematique and the single Supermassive Black Hole are certainly risible, breezy pop nuggets, but when they attempt to disguise the theatrics with Motor/Radiohead makeovers, the high-camp still overrides. Even on epic, Maiden-esque closer Knights of Cydonia, there's no escaping that taste. www.muse.mu  Johnnie Craig

We all need a little bit of peace and quiet now and again, and thankfully people like Harold Budd are around to provide it. 70-year-old Budd has been a fixture on the ambient and so-called avant-garde music scene since the late '60s, but it wasn't until he became a creative associate of Brian Eno's in the mid-'70s that his delicate works (including The Pavillion of Dreams, Ambient 2: The Plateau of Mirrors and The White Arcades) began to find a wider audience. Budd officially retired two years ago, so La Bella Vista comes as a surprise. Recorded (sometimes without his knowledge) at the titular home of Daniel Lanois (who produced), the 10 pieces here are filigree music of the highest order - deft, unobtrusive mood works that engender solace and serenity without recourse to stereotype or cliched familiarity. Spa music? If only. www.highcoin.com  Tony Clayton-Lea

COWBOY X
Who Are These People? Actual Size Records
****

Who are these people making this very interesting, infectious, electro-rock sound that's as ripped as Garbage, as sinisterly seductive as Black Box Recorder and as supercool as St Etienne? They are Irish musicians John Hanley and David Grealy who, in between soundtrack recording projects, got together with singer Karen McCartney, who can switch from waif to vamp to diva and back again in a flash. They took their name not from a sci-fi western but from a character in Sesame Street. The album opens with the driving electro-grunge debut single, Gabbi, and tears through the accelerated pop sound of Live and Learn, Shot Down, 2nd Second and Smaller Faster Cheaper Better. There are no cheap casios in evidence here; the band cleverly avoid sounding too sleek and shiny, instead putting McCartney's sensual purr upfront and making sure to line the route with lots of fine riffery and enough choruses to keep your robot maid singing along. www.myspace.com/cowboyxmusic   Kevin Courtney

GUILLEMOTS
Through the Window Pane Polydor
****

An Englishman, a Scotsman, a Canadian and a Brazilian walk into a studio and make beautiful, aching, classical-tinged pop music that evokes, among others, Aztec Camera, Lloyd Cole, Jeff Buckley and Ennio Morricone.. Classically trained singer-pianist Fyfe Dangerfield avoided the easy option of getting together with three other similar blokes and making overwrought Coldplay-lite music. Instead, he pulled together a multinational, multitalented crew, including guitarist Lord Magrao and double-bassist Aristazabel Hawkes, and created music that swells with romantic longing and a desire to reach beyond the usual damp, dour emotion and catch the sun. At first, when Little Bear makes its overtures, you wonder if we're tramping in David Gray territory. But then the new single, Made Up Lovesong #43, kicks its heels, and all of a sudden you're ready to conga right through the puddles to such tunes as We're Here, Annie, Let's Not Wait and Sao Paulo. www.guillemots.com Kevin Courtney