**1/2 Savage Garden

AFFIRMATION

(Columbia)

Aussie Wham!-ites Savage Garden have a real winner in the title track of their second album, a locked-on-cruise-control joyride through the same Roxette territory traversed by their old, cherry-cola-gulping megahit "I Want You." This is the sound of the rejuvenated International Pop Overground, a friendly place ruled by bold vocal harmonies, soft house beats, and the occasional piano ballad. Unlike most of their peers, Savage Garden dudes Darren Hayes (vocals) and Daniel Jones (everything else) write their own stuff -- there's not a Diane Warren credit to be found here, though long-time Mariah Carey producer Walter Afanasieff is along for the ride. But it's not as if Hayes and Jones were trying anything new, and the usual embarrassing clichés -- in both lyrics and music -- abound. "I Knew I Loved You" practically drugs listeners to sleep before (finally) jolting them awake with a Britney/Backstreet-approved modulation on its final chorus. In general, the more desperate the ballads ("I Don't Know You Anymore," "Hold Me"), the better. Hayes and Jones occasionally show their age -- a Mr. Mister lyric here, a muted hard-rock guitar riff à la Richard Marx there -- but Affirmation proves they're not yet over the hill.

-- Sean Richardson