*** Cinerama

VA VA VOOM

(spinART)

As the prolific lovelorn leader of England's Wedding Present, singer/guitarist David Lewis Gedge has felt compelled on occasion to the wry admission that his songs all sound the same. And though consistency may not be the greater part of valor, it has earned Gedge an admiring and devoted cult audience that appreciates the pretty pop melodies, limited vocal range, and weakness for doomed romance he's poured into dozens and dozens of not dissimilar songs over the past decade. Cinerama, then, represent a detour into familiar terrain for Gedge, who's been the only steady member of the Wedding Present anyway, and who's teamed up here with Sally Murrell and a host of backing musicians (including the Church's Marty Willson-Piper). Murrell's most obvious contribution is her sweet background vocals, which make Gedge seem less alone even when he's savoring the bitterness of an ex-lover's nasty goodbye note.

Va Va Voom also finds Gedge branching out a bit in his music -- incorporating more keyboard textures, strings, and piano into tunes that bring to mind the melancholy yet playful rush of the Cure's Head on the Door album. But as soon as he starts "End" with the line "Gone as far as I/I can go with this crap," you know what he means -- he's been writing and singing about matters of the broken heart since 1987. On the other hand, if it works when it's broke, why fix it?

-- Matt Ashare