**1/2 THE EVINRUDES

(Mercury)

When Meredith Brooks proclaimed the right kind of guitar sound could get her down on all fours, she was talking about the sting of Muddy Waters slide circa 1956. Evinrudes guitarist Brian Reed has an approach a million miles away from that -- some have deemed it a power buzz -- but it prompts his longtime partner Sherry Cothran to sing as if she were already involved in carnal capers. The Nashville indie band's major-label debut is based on Cothran's licentious rasp and the group's earnest punch. In tandem they help make a minor album a bit more memorable.

Cothran's audio eros is a mix of Brooks and Shirley Manson, which might help the Evinrudes fit into a modern-rock play list somewhere. If it does, listeners will get a dose of some rather novel lyrics penned by songwriter Reed. On "Have Some Rain," Cothran offers a first-person tale of a woman fresh out of a Florida funny farm. Her eating disorder has "got a strange name, something `nervosa'/I think I look like Hoss on Ponderosa." That's a couplet worthy of the Beasties. There's humor, or at least wit, in the air around The Evinrudes, suggesting Brooks and Cothran -- a Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox for the jangle crowd -- believe angst isn't without its absurd side. That's a plus no matter what genre you're working.

-- Jim Macnie