*** The Gunga Din

YOUR GLITTER NEVER DULLS

(Jetset)

With their greasy-haired, take-it-or-loathe it aesthetic, this group of NYC downtown maestros walk a thin line between the tragically hip and the smartly tragic. On their '98 debut, Introducing the Gunga Din, the quartet played sparse, dramatic songs like "Deadbeat Daddy" and "The Hanging Orchestra," perching on that line and refusing to budge. Now comes a follow-up that doesn't quite blossom but does refine their dusky overview. Displaying a knowledge of both cabaret and no wave, the Gunga Din expand their sound, wringing the glam inference out of the title and leaving a matte-black residue. It all springs from a two-colored palette, however: Siobhan Duffy sings like a teacher who's in a hurry to get to an after-school S&M session (particularly on the ominous "Let's Play a Game") while Maria Zastrow's carnivalesque Farfisa organ surges and fades.

Adding to the marvelous textures and dirty, dirty sound is Bill Bronson's squawking guitar, which grounds the Brechtian swagger of "Under the Sun" and the elastic melodies of the peppy "Paradoxia." Bronson's duets with Duffy threaten to unravel all the Gunga Din's hard work, especially when unwelcome echoes of X become apparent. But a willfully weird rhythm section and a strength of song reign, keeping the sound sharp and knowing.

-- Richard Martin