**1/2 Nine Days

THE MADDING CROWD

(550 Music/Sony)

This debut disc from the Long Island fivesome Nine Days was produced by Nick DiDia, who's best known for his work with grunge production guru Brendan O'Brien on many a flannel-shirted classic. But don't be fooled -- Nine Days don't do loud and mopy. They're heirs to the Third Eye Blind/Semisonic pop throne, as The Madding Crowd's peppy lead single, "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)," attests. Of the two singer/songwriter types they've got up front, John Hampson makes the stronger impression, belting out upbeat tracks like "257 Weeks" and "Revolve" in an earthy tenor that sometimes recalls ex-Jellyfish crooner Andy Sturmer. Brian Desveaux sings okay too, but his "Bob Dylan" -- a clumsily worded tribute, with 3EB-style hip-hop overtones -- is the disc's one cringe-inducing moment. The duo's lyrics suffer from the kind of literary pretension you'd expect from a bunch of guys who named their album after a Thomas Hardy novel; the closing-time philosophizing of "End Up Alone" -- as in "dead, drunk, or stoned" and, of course, "like a rolling stone" -- is particularly hackneyed. Still, like most of the songs on the disc, it gets by on melody alone. As for the group's playing, it's solid if unspectacular, with B3 organist Jeremy Dean providing most of the instrumental flourish.

-- Sean Richardson