** Mimi

SOAK

(Luaka Bop)

Somewhere outside Athens, Georgia, lurks a cemetery containing the ashen remains of former "next big things" touched by the hand of Michael Stipe -- the Tomb of the Unknown Rickenbacker Bar Band, where Hetch Hetchy, Chicksaw Mud Puppies, and countless others are presumably interred. One of the more unfortunate members of the club would have to be New York's Hugo Largo, a drum-less, guitar-less outfit who bequeathed us two spooky albums in the late '80s, the first of which was produced by Mr. Stipe, and both of which featured the spectral vocals of Mimi Goese.

Now billing herself as Mimi, Goese reunites with Hugo Largo avant violinist Hahn Rowe for some hi-tech SoHo torch-song skullduggery with help from ambient arranger Hector Zazou (a sort of French Bill Laswell). Her hiccuppy hopscotch delivery falls somewhere between Laurie Anderson and Jane Siberry, with lyrics that segue from cliché to nursery rhyme to poetic within the span of a stanza or two. On a track co-authored by Miracle Legion singer Mark Mulcahy she muses, "What would Superman do if he were me?/He'd start running and head for the hills." As playful as it is perplexing, Soak goes on to offer an a cappella version of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" that's creepier than Cibo Matto's.

-- Patrick Bryant