***1/2 Martin Phillipps & the Chills

SUNBURNT

(Flying Nun)

Martin Phillipps has grown to acknowledge that the rarefied pop ideal he's been nurturing and refining since his early '80s days as the New Zealand underground's ambassador to America may never be validated commercially. Yet Sunburnt surges with a newfound conviction that the simple, direct power of a well-crafted pop song can transcend the realities of the marketplace.

"It appears that time moved on without me," he sings softly over the plush clouds of ambient keyboards and gentle, ringing guitars that float through "Lost in Future Ruins." "And now I'm scared so many years flitted by my eyes while I just grew." As if in partial answer to his own self-doubt, the next song ("New Millennium") kicks in with a swift, optimistic beat, a timelessly tuneful combination of garage-rocking organ and guitar, and lyrics like "We're sure we'll find a way to blunder on through like we always do." Much like Paul Westerberg, another literate post-punk hero whose mainstream appeal will perhaps never match his songwriting talent, Phillipps (the sole permanent Chill) has learned to forge ahead knowing that, even if he's sometimes wrong, the rest of the world isn't necessarily right.

-- Matt Ashare

(Martin Phillipps & the Chills join Chavez and Starhustler on a bill downstairs at the Middle East this Friday, November 1.)