*** David Rice

GREENELECTRIC

(Columbia)

As to style, Houston-bred vagabond David Rice's vocals fall somewhere between Elvis Costello and Peter Gabriel, especially on "Father," where he rasps "If I was my father, I'd be coming home, 'cause I play it so well." But when it comes to emotions, Rice pierces hearts and psyches like another electric soul whose dad was a recurring topic: Jeff Buckley. Like Buckley, Rice lands on that sweet spot where inventive verve and elegant execution yield both the pained and the exuberant noise of life. Rice recorded several of the 12 songs on greenelectric at Gabriel's Real World studio with such hotshots as guitarist Trey Gunn and Page-Plant hurdy-gurdy man Nigel Eaton. Those tracks are instilled with grand anthemic textures as well as restraint. But for pure craft, the tracks Rice did on his own (including "Father" and the magnificently melodic "Thirsty Girl") back at Loma Ranch in Fredericksburg, Texas, are superior. Both ring with 12-string guitars and a poetic intimacy that makes greenelectric the sleeper pop album of the year.

-- Tristram Lozaw