***1/2 Mitchell Froom

DOPAMINE

(Atlantic)

Mitchell Froom's demons run amok on his second solo CD, rattling up a sound somewhere between Tom Waits's noise-noir masterpiece Bone Machine and the compositions of lounge king Juan Garcia Esquivel. He transforms Sheryl Crow into a mad automaton for "Monkey Mind," which could be a great lost Residents track. (Was Froom one of the mystery men beneath those giant eyeballs?) The album opens with the quivering Eastern melodicism of "Tastes Good," segues into "The Bunny" (which features Soul Coughing's M. Doughty mumbling about a menacing rodent over some queasy funk), and gets downright beautiful in a skewed way by "Overcast," the penultimate and pretty ballad that Ron Sexsmith sings like a muted horn. Imagine every sonic fillip Froom's ever put into his productions for Elvis Costello, wife Suzanne Vega, the Latin Playboys, and Bonnie Raitt in one strong elixir. Froom says the concept here is to showcase the role of the arranger within pop song structures. But with its dissonant curves, unusual vintage instruments (optigon, Indian harmonium), and clattering sonic detours, Dopamine seems more an act of musical exorcism designed to make our heads spin.

-- Ted Drozdowski