Search - Cousteau :: Sirena

Sirena, the second album from Cousteau, further demonstrates this group's debt to Scott Walker, the Tindersticks, and, indeed, any young man who has ever put on a suit, turned the lights down low, and crooned sadly, sonorously, and edgily. Buoyed by dramatic pianos, subtle strings, and even the odd keening steel guitar, these anthems of bruised machismo frame singer Liam's rich and relaxed slides between warm baritone and caressing falsetto. If there's a drawback, it lies in the rhythmic and textural sameness of much of the material. But, at its best--"Nothing So Bad," "Heavy Weather," "Talking to Myself," and the deliciously sensual "Salome"--Sirena is an album of bittersweet bliss and old-fashioned swoon-pop values. --Garry Mulholland