*** The Folk Implosion

DARE TO BE SURPRISED

(Communion)

Before their 1995 radio hit "Natural One" (from the Kids soundtrack), the Folk Implosion (John Davis and Sebadoh's Lou Barlow) were known mostly for insider-only indie-rock tchakas: open sketchbooks and the bric-a-brac of pop life, raps, hardcore screeds, answering-machine babble, even a few good tunes. Now -- surprise! -- they cough up a whole album of real-life goodies, verse-chorus songs with hooks.

All the digressions and curios are still here, but now assimilated into the tunes. That could mean the hip-hop beat, McCartney bass line, and maharajah strings of "Insinuation"; the primitive dub pop of "Park Dub"; the harmonium oompah of "Dare To Be Surprised"; the pretty straight Monkees pop of "Barricade"; or the occasional Beefheart-like lurching tandem guitars. The details turn up in all the right places, holding and being held by the limber song structures. If there's a self-conscious nudge-wink in the Beck-like patchwork impressionism, the imagery comes into deep focus when Davis and Barlow croon bittersweetly in harmony for a lost love or some other unnamed want.

-- Jon Garelick