Polak
Swansongs
One Little Indian

"This could be the very last thing that you hear from me," Pete Fijalkowski sings in the opening and closing lines of Polak's Swansongs. And, well, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference to the music-buying public, who's largely unaware of the latest project from the former lead singer of Adorable, a pretty-good early '90s Britpop outfit largely unheard in the United States.

Swansongs contains some pretty decent tunesmanship, but doesn't exactly set the world on fire. Starting off strong with the aforementioned "Last Thing," the album keeps up its punch while heading into "Tracer," one of the album's strongest tunes.

Electric piano and quiet guitar medleys lay a perfect backdrop for Fijalkowski's low, half-spoken vocals. Analog beeps add a floaty, atmospheric ambiance. But when Fijalkowski lets loose and starts to sing, he gets into trouble as he wrestles with the high notes. This sort of thing has been done before — and better, too — by the likes of Suede's Brett Anderson, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and, hell, even Blur's Damon Albarn. In fact, that's the general rule of Swansongs: As long as Fijalkowski sticks within a few-note range, it's an effective, low-key Brit album about alienation and urban loneliness, the sort of thing Brit groups generally do well with.

Swansongs has plenty of moments for those who like this sort of thing, be it the crackling electricity of the untitled sixth track, or the uplifting, ballady "Impossible," which might have made the cut for the High Fidelity soundtrack had the movie based on English author Nick Hornby's novel set in England actually been made in England.

As for the rest of Swansongs, well, if it weren't for Polak's pseudo-eligibility for the Pollack Frolic (see below), you'd probably still not have heard from Fijalkowski. While songs like "Tracer" and "Hang Up" are pretty well crafted and should appeal to fans of the genre, the album holds up better as background listening than as the sort of thing on which you concentrate. Still, there's enough here to make future Fijalkowski efforts worth keeping an eye on. We'll keep you posted.

— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)