Album: Vetiver, The Errant Charm (Bella Union)

Unlike previous Vetiver albums, for The Errant Charm, songwriter Andy Cabic entered the studio with vague ideas rather than finished songs, and it shows.

These aren't so much songs as suggestions of moods: mostly warm, but somewhat underwhelming. The opener, "It's Beyond Me", signals the direction: strummed acoustic guitar and Cabic's vocal – the most unthreatening sound in pop – attended by subtle instrumental touches in an arrangement that never catches fire. Ambient guitar sounds hover like a heat-haze, an occasional outbreak of jangly guitars evokes a forgotten Byrds B-side, and things plod along with the gentle gait of a Pure Prairie League outtake. The most animated things get is "Ride, Ride, Ride", which sounds like the Velvets' "Sister Ray" as done by the Grateful Dead.

DOWNLOAD THIS Ride, Ride, Ride; It's Beyond Me; Worse For Wear