** Grey Eye Glances

EVENTIDE

(Parachute/Mercury Records)

Listening to this album is like taking a stroll along a straight path on a fairly warm summer's day. The scenery is pleasant though a bit plain: a generic flower, a nameless bird, perhaps a weeping willow. The trail offers no surprises, either -- no sudden curves, no changes of terrain or direction, no slopes.

The band's pop-rock sound is built around Jennifer Nobel's mellifluous voice, which doesn't always convey the passion and intensity necessary to grab the heart strings. The guitars (electric for fast songs, acoustic for slow) and keyboards produce catchy chord progressions to complement Nobel's simple melodies; for the most part, though, they're purely background. The big disappointment is in the choruses; the tunes lack any build-up of tension and subsequent resolution, or even any noticeable transitions. Climaxes are conspicuously absent; though many of the verses start out with a promising vibe, they simply don't go anywhere. Sure, you'll find yourself whistling or snapping your fingers when provoked by a mindless foray into la-la-pop and bubblegum, major chords and lonely-hearts conventionality. But the pervading feeling is one of familiarity, predictability, and distance.

-- Y. Ryan Gonen