Bettie Serveert: Dust Bunnies

The consensus on the indie-nerdie Dutch rock quartet Bettie Serveert ("Bettie serves," in recognition of hard-serving '70s Dutch tennis star Bettie Stove) is that their first release, Palomine (1993), was very good in a casual Pavementish, mopy but not-full-of-themselves kind of way; that their second disc, Lamprey ('95), was disappointing, a little too discursive and offhand musically, not to mention of bad cheer; and that their newest one, Dust Bunnies (all three are on Matador), is, once again, very good. I'll go along with that.

Not that this one is very good in the same way that the first one was. For one thing, it's a lot less moody and a lot more about putting across a poppish song in under four minutes -- a good sign that, yes, an outside producer has been brought in. In fact, there are cuts here that would have seemed out of place on their more expansive debut. "Rudder," their inevitable show-biz-is-full-of-phonies-including-the-audience song, could have made it onto the Austin Powers soundtrack by dint of its paisley melody and sock-hop rhythm. "Story in a Nutshell," clocking in at 1:10, has the kind of perky terseness that the most anal power-pop fan could get behind (so to speak). Even when they're being overtly ill-tempered, as on "Geek" ("Rich, dumb, white kid thinks he's everything/Baldheaded geek's got a song to sing"), they keep the music tight.

It's a tribute to the band that they've managed this slight transformation not through some kind of craven overhaul but by leaning more toward tendencies that were already there. Lead guitarist Peter Visser has shown himself to be a musician of impeccable taste (and I don't mean that as an insult), a walking, or playing, encyclopedia of post-'66 guitar tonalities who offers up grit or languor as the situation calls for. Being reined in by the more focused songs here only highlights his knack for the apposite lick (or riff or line or texture).

But Bettie Serveert's most distinguishing component is vocalist Carol Van Dijk. At a time when indie female lead singers tend to be either ranters or ostentatiously girlish (so sue me), Van Dijk's rangy, non-theatrical style is pretty cool. She sounds exceptionally normal, putting her lyrics across with unpretentious conviction. Which is good, because as a lyricist she's variable. In one song alone ("What Friends?") we have "Stop making the most of what you say you think you haven't got," which is pretty damn good -- but also "The silent hint walks out the door," which sucks mightily.

Mostly, though, you can get the gist of what Van Dijk's on about, and she keeps the elliptical versifying within the accepted boundaries of modern rock obscurantism. And now that the group have decided to be a listener-friendly postmodern song band, more meaning than that would be too much to ask.

-- Richard C. Walls

Bettie Serveert play the Paradise this Tuesday, June 3, with Versus and Ugly Beauty. Call 562-8800.