** Vibrolush

TOUCH AND GO

(V2)

The second album by the NYC band Vibrolush tries too hard to be too many things to too many listeners. The album is not without its successes, specifically the pretty, George Harrison-style guitar-pop number "Sun" and the title track, a catchy rocker with a melody reminiscent of "Whisper to a Scream" by the one-hit-wonder Icicle Works. It's when the boys get over-ambitious that things tend to stray. The introduction of strings and synths into the power-balladish "Just like Heaven" and the trendy use of a turntable on "Claim to Fame" show a guitar band overreaching, and the super sampled-up cover of Steve Miller's "The Joker" is simply unlistenable. Vibrolush seem most comfortable churning out harmlessly pleasing modern rock in the vein of Matchbox Twenty -- which may explain why they go out of their way to shake things up.

-- Tom Kielty

(Vibrolush perform this Wednesday, September 20, at T.T. the Bear's Place. Call 492-BEAR.)