*** John Wesley Harding

AWAKE

(Zero Hour)

The latest from this self-styled English "gangsta folk" artist is a concept album -- an hour-long song cycle that occurs, Owl Creek Bridge-like, in the first groggy moments of wakefulness when the clock radio rouses the singer from sleep, during which time he is haunted by ghosts and reveries and ontological doubts. It's a slight concept that fits with the album's narcoleptic pace. But though Harding's pop songcraft is immaculate, his lyrics witty and tart, and his delivery cool and assured, he doesn't escape the "Elvis Costello-lite" charges that have always dogged him. Still, the expanded sonic palette (from noisier guitars to ghostly Dr. Dre-style synths to telephone noises) keeps things interesting. More important, the storytelling is vivid, from "Window Seat" (about someone whose whole life, from cradle to grave, is spent on an airplane) to "Miss Fortune" (about a foundling boy rescued by a tycoon and raised as a girl). When coupled with sparkling and catchy pop, Harding's cheerfully bitter whimsy ("Baby, we're all gonna burn") is damn near irresistible.

-- Gary Susman