*** The Orange Peels

SQUARE

(Minty Fresh)

Bay Area native Allen Clapp (whose band were formerly known as Allen Clapp & His Orchestra) has a knack for evoking the fragile sunlight, misty breezes, and overcast skies of San Francisco in the music of the Orange Peels. On the disc's radiantly charming title track, Clapp, like Sub Pop's Eric Matthews, draws on the baroque-pop tradition of songwriters like Burt Bacharach and Neil Diamond. The album's opening and closing tracks -- "All The World Could Pass Me By" and "Love Coming Down" -- serve as impeccably crafted bookends for a sparkling collection of songs.

And just because beauty tops the band's agenda doesn't mean there isn't any room for bite. "Everybody's Gone" and "Man and Superman" have a sweet-and-sour pungency that lingers, and Clapp wraps unsettling sentiments in deceptively pretty packages. When he asks, "Is love really the answer/Or is it just emotional suicide?", the query comes cushioned on a bed of strings and crushed velvet.

-- Jonathan Perry

(The Orange Peels join the Pastels, Delgados, the Autumn Leaves, and Honeybunch upstairs at the Middle East this Monday, September 8; call 864-EAST.)