Artist: Elbow

Album: “The Seldom Seen Kid”

Release date: April 22

Label: Geffen

“The Seldom Seen Kid” has all the good things you’ve come to expect from an Elbow LP – lush orchestrations, heavy-hearted ballads and singer Guy Garvey’s expressive voice. But by the group’s fourth album, Elbow’s schtick begins to wear a bit thin.

The boys from Manchester only pick up their guitars a couple of times here, which is a disappointment, considering they penned some of their best guitar tunes on 2006’s “Leaders of the Free World.”

The standout track is the whiskey-soaked bar sing-along “Grounds for Divorce,” which, not coincidentally, is the only real guitar-driven song on the album. “The Fix” is another highlight, in which Pulp’s Richard Hawley backs up Garvey amid circus organs and a flamenco-tinged refrain.

The rest of the album is characterized by sparse piano and strings, which makes some tracks seem to blur together. At times, Garvey’s sentimental lyrics get too sugary sweet, as the dripping sarcasm of other albums is largely absent here. Ultimately, “Kid” fails to reach the highs of Elbow’s previous work.

– Thomas Grundmeier

Artist: Eric Hutchinson

Album: “Sounds Like This”

Release date: April 15

Label: Warner Bros.

Eric Hutchinson is a singer/songwriter who’s “Sounds Like This” is highly reflective of the laid-back complexity that could only come from a man who sings, plays piano, guitar, keyboard and Moog bass. The flavor here is thoroughly lighthearted and could be easily be the soundtrack to a night out on the town, a romantic comedy or that time you have to spend eight hours cleaning your dorm room because your mom is visiting.

The title track “Ok, It’s Alright With Me” is easily the catchiest tune, but it isn’t nearly as aurally interesting as “Oh!” which featres off-kilter timing, vocal slides and lyrics like “I’m never sure what I’m living for, but it’s always on my mind.”

The award for oddest sound on a pop album goes to Paul Holderie’s electric sitar on track eight, “It Hasn’t Been Long Enough.” The track starts out mellow enough, with Hutchinson’s sweet tenor raising effortlessly above the major chords on the keyboard and slowly ups the tempo and predictable key change until the saxophone takes over during the latter half of the song and briefly duels with Hutchinson’s voice before fading away and allowing him to end the song on a throaty warble.

– Rashah McChesney

Artist: ASHES dIVIDE

Album: “Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright”

Release date: April 8

Label: Island

Billy Howerdel, producer for A Perfect Circle, has championed a new cause. ASHES dIVIDE is Howerdel’s solo project and is, unfortunately, a bit disappointing on the whole.

Fans of A Perfect Circle and those who consider everything the Rev. Maynard touches gold will be disappointed to learn that Howerdel apparently transported himself back to the ’90s and has been shacking up with the Toadies to produce this album, which could easily be the soundtrack to a teen movie about vampires and hormonal angst – the cover art illustrates it perfectly.

There are definitely times when you can close your eyes, ignore Howerdel’s oversynthed vocals and appreciate his natural talent for the musical grandiosity that he exploited during his time with A Perfect Circle.

Mega-prolific drummer Josh Freese is, at times, allowed to deviate slightly from the 4/4 time signature that characterizes the album and experiment, but his performance doesn’t do anything to further the album rhythmically.

Devo Keenan, Maynard’s son, brings a cello to life on the last track, “Sword.” It’s minor tonality and haunting string overtones make it easily the best track of the whole effort. It’s also one of the few tracks on which Freese deviates from his obsessively easy drumming into something a little more awe-inspiring. Howerdel’s subdued vocals on this track also make it heavily reminiscent of A Perfect Circle.

Unfortunately, this solo jaunt simply does not make the cut. It isn’t far enough from any of his previous work to be considered groundbreaking, and it isn’t harmonically or lyrically complex enough to allow it to stand alone.

– Rashah McChesney