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Hope Sandoval re-emerges in soft-focus form

“THROUGH THE DEVIL SOFTLY,” Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (Nettwerk)

Hope Sandoval’s first full-length release in eight years meets expectations on “Through the Devil Softly,” and that likely couldn’t make her fans any happier. Her meditative voice is still as addictive as heroin — which is something she might well be on as her articulation comes and goes in languid waves — and her delivery remains as arresting as when she broke into the mainstream with the unlikely 1994 Mazzy Star hit “Fade Into You.”

Yet as central as her ghost-child singing is to “Through the Devil Softly,” the shadowy music of The Warm Inventions can’t be underestimated. (Sandoval’s last full release was 2001’s “Bavarian Fruit Bread,” also with The Warm Inventions; she reportedly is working on another Mazzy Star release, too.)

Her Warm Inventions collaborator Colm O Ciosoig (of My Bloody Valentine) and the rest of the instrumentalists provide a supple environment for Sandoval’s lingering intonations to expand and consume the atmosphere. Credit especially goes to the several guitarists who usher her with both delicate acoustic work and resonating electricity — in evidence from the wistful and gorgeous doom of “Lady Jessica and Sam” to the shimmering voltage of a wry “Trouble” that’s suitable for a David Lynch film.

Chimes, vibraphone, cymbal, cello and harmonica also discretely waft into the air, and the sometimes-waltzing rhythms keep it fluid.

Sandoval’s dreamlike presence is cleverly echoed by the arrangements: The music-box sound on “Sets the Blaze” is as slowed-down as the singer, for example, and on “For the Rest of Your Life” vibes and a sea-mammal-esque bass effect wrap her in an alternate-world blues.

Her utterances, when they can be understood, are deliberately unrevealing — simple musings such as, “Is that the devil in your eye?” on “Blue Bird” and, “Count your blessings on your way down” on “Satellite.” But that lyrical vagueness merely enhances the overall mystique.

Rating (five possible): 4

All-teen KSM delivers Disney-styled sass

“READ BETWEEN THE LINES,” KSM (Disney Sound)

The all-teen, all-girl band KSM is touted in its biography as a new generation Go-Go’s, Runaways or Bangles with a difference: “They’re younger, looser and they rock so much harder.”

That’s sooo not true.

They aren’t younger than the Runaways were, and they certainly aren’t looser or harder rocking than any of those predecessors.

The real difference is that unlike those others, KSM is brought to you by Disney.

Yet even though their sass is wholesome, KSM’s new “Read Between the Lines” is perfectly acceptable as a rock starter album for tweens and early teens.

The gang of four Californians and one North Carolinian jaunt through discretely watered-down power-pop on the catchy “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and the plucky “Distracted,” where frustrated lead vocalist Shelby Cobra cutely whines, “I get so distracted when I see your face.”

Also, “Permission to Party” latches on to a healthy chug to convey a sterilized version of the message behind Beastie Boys “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party),” and even if “Crazy Over You” sounds like homogenized Joan Jett, it still packs admirable rumble.

Sometimes it just doesn’t work: “Best Friends Forever” is unforgivably trite and manipulative, and KSM simply flounders in the sludge of “Unpredictable.” Meanwhile, there’s nothing convincing about them complaining about the work week (a la Bangles’ “Manic Monday”) on the jerky “Saturdays and Sundays,” though when they carry on about texting, a new shade of lip gloss and kicking it at the mall on “Slow Motion,” they’re in their element.

KSM can’t help but sound like cheerleaders rolling down the Disney pop assembly line, but give them credit for their teen spirit.

Rating: 3

Worthy Alex Cuba lifted by Furtado factor

“AGUA DEL POZO,” Alex Cuba (Caracol)

An unassuming guy like Alex Cuba got the ultimate career boost when international star Nelly Furtado selected him to sing a duet with her on the title track of her new Spanish-language release, “Mi Plan,” a song that Cuba also wrote. That exposure coincides with the physical release of Cuba’s “Agua del Pozo,” a previous digital release that proves the man with a distinguishing Afro also has a distinctive style.

Cuba — born Alexis Puentes — is a transplant from Artemisa, Cuba, to Smithers, British Columbia, a town some 700 miles north of Vancouver. Although the cultural gap between the towns might be regarded as even wider than the distance in miles, Cuba’s sound essentially reconciles the two.

The roots of his music are Latin, and all of the tracks on “Agua del Pozo” are in Spanish (with handy English translations on the insert). Yet the arrangements often aren’t as fiery as might be expected for such material; rather, they’re restrained in a fashion more typical of Canadian acts.

The percussion is faint, the guitar gentle on opener “Amor Infinito” (“Infinite Love”), allowing Cuba’s sweetly intimate vocals to dominate. His soft soul likewise is central to the subsequent, melodic “De Camino” (“On The Way”), which is kissed by bass.

Jazz finds its way into mix, adding grace to the enigmatic “Lamento” (“Lament”) and substance to the minimalism of “Si Pero No” (“Yes But No”).

The groove does dig deeper mid-album on “Agua del Pozo,” and Cuba toughens his charismatic voice to command the stirring, horn-laced songs before the mood gears down again and the focus returns to the alluring delivery of his poetic lines.

He has a few misfires — an “Y Que Bongo” (“What a Bongo”) that is surprisingly uninspiring for a song that celebrates the bongo and a “Vampiro” (“Vampire”) that relates a tale of forbidden love in an ill-fittingly cheesy, and oddly sunny, instrumental context.

But in general, Furtado’s instincts were on target.

Rating: 3-1/2

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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