(Domino)

www.dominorecordingsco.com

Devonté Hynes must've thought long and hard as to what would followup his much-adored Falling Off the Lavender Bridge - at least, from the (sometimes too) well-thought-out sound of Life is Sweet. Filled with hip hop rips and chamber-pop blips and snippets of glam-rock's swelling sound, Life runs in hot opposition to the cool Americana of its predecessor. At first listen, I liked the new one more than Lavender. It's harder and more adventurous as on the funked-up triangle ting-ing "Marlene" where the rapacious Hynes yelps "Stop being cool."

The Spaghetti western-styled noise of "Sweetheart" and the grooving Smiths-esque "Faculty of Fears" are both potent displays of new found freak-flag-ed-ness. But then the sad-eyed aspect of "Faculty" gets overly grand and belabored on the "The Big Guns of Highsmith" and you miss the effortless elegance and simple American twang of that previous album. Even Hynes' overly-accented Brit clipped vocals start to bug me. It's Sweet and but not not-as-Lavender-scented as you'd like. Pip pip.

Standout Tracks: "Madame Van Damme," "Faculty of Fears," "Middle of the Dark" A.D. AMOROSI