Wishville
To clear up any confusion over whether Catherine Wheel is a person or a band, the group has added an article to the beginning of its name. Forevermore they areTheCatherine Wheel. Now on to the album. The Catherine Wheel (used to it yet?) diligently migrated out of the early '90s shoe-gazing soup, dabbled in aggressive alt-rock, and have evolved into the clear-headed, tasteful band we find onWishville. "Sparks Are Gonna Fly" kicks things off with the fist-pumping regalia of power pop propelled by a door-busting kick drum and gritty wah-wah guitar. "Sparks" uncorks Tim Friese-Greene's (Talk Talk) masterful production, which is as invaluable toWishvilleas the songs themselves. Every track is fluidly distinguished from one another by the jazz-influenced production; instruments and vocals weigh in separately and cautiously, then dramatically merge. On "Gasoline" the open-ended kick and snare treatment allows for an empty-room reverberation, while such tracks as "Crème Caramel" and "All of That" emphasize lead singer Rob Dickinson's whisper-in-the-ear tone. Appeasing longtime fans, "Lifeline" and "What We Want to Believe in" nod to the (The) Catherine Wheel of yore with a wash of lushly distorted guitars.Wishvilleis the band at its sparest, but it still delivers high-voltage, smart alternative rock. Perfect rock posture with no posturing.--Beth Massa