**1/2 Geneva

FURTHER

(Work)

The trend in modern British pop is to nick melodic ideas from the '60s, only to cover them in enough '90s-style noise and static to disguise the source. The predominantly Scottish quintet Geneva have a slightly different approach: they take the postpunk aesthetic of Brits like the Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen, add bigger guitars, and try to put a contemporary edge on the '80s rock they grew up on. The disc's angelic title track sounds Bunnymen enough that it would fit in fine next to almost anything from Radiohead's OK Computer; the strong single, "Into the Blue," features guitarists Steven Dora and Stuart Evans building from chiming Smiths-style verses to thrashy choruses. Singer Andrew Montgomery spends most of the disc sounding like a prepubescent choirboy doing a Morrissey impression in front of the mirror. His highs are beautiful but his lows sound a tad forced. Although this is a fine debut, Geneva would be better off relying less on Montgomery and avoiding bad teenage-poetry lyrics like "Strangled by my own worry beads."

-- Ben Heller

(Geneva open for Catherine Wheel this Tuesday at Avalon; call 931-2000 for tickets.)