** Ben Lee

BREATHING TORNADOS

(Grand Royal/Capitol)

Discovered by Thurston Moore back when he was still in high school, adopted by the Beastie Boys, and lately heralded as the best singer/songwriter to emerge from the land of the vegamite sandwich since Rick Springfield quit the Jordy Boys, pop prodigy Ben Lee finally figured it was time to shed the lo-fi trappings of indie rock and take a more mature approach to his craft. He is, after all, 20 years old now. And he does have loads of talent. In fact, nifty melodies come so naturally to Lee, you get the sense he's not always sure what to do with them. And too often on Breathing Tornados he doesn't do much more than fill in the blanks with innocuous sentiments that hang limply on melancholy hooks -- "Sit here letting time line my face" is the kind of line that's hard to sit through when Lee sings it, not because he's so young but because it's such a tired way of expressing ennui.

Lee's better than that. Much better on the smoothly produced opening cut, "Cigarettes Will Kill You," where his casual Lemonheady voice rides a sleek and crafty drum-and-piano loop and his words get playful with silly-sweet cooking metaphors and coy when he dreams of a "TV embrace." And he's so good at creating a sugary illusion of emotional depth with the old Evan Dando trick of singing so sad-sweetly about nothing much at all that he shouldn't have to bother with lines on his face until they actually begin to appear.

-- Matt Ashare