His Name Is Alive-- "Stars on ESP" (4AD 4627)

Since their spacy 1991 debut, "Livonia," and distortion-laced 1993 release, "Mouth By Mouth," this band has discovered a pop playfulness that shows someone's been listening to lots of Beach Boys and taking scads of Lithium. Hailing from Livonia, Michigan, word has it His Name is Alive have put out nearly a dozen tapes of cassette demos. But while this release is more poppy and structured than "Mouth By Mouth," the band has retained a simple, ethereal sound that has "Stars" at the very top of my current must-listens. Bandmeister Warren Defever has stolen from others before-- and even bothered to cover Big Star's "Blue Moon," the prettiest song in the world-- but "Universal Frequency" is his first rap-like attempt to build an entire song from samples. And this one's built on what appears to be a "Smile" outtake of "Good Vibrations" (with vocal tag included). A few of the other arrangements also sound like the Beach Boys-- HNIA are a 4AD band, for chrissakes-- and feature dreamy gal-singers that were probably holding great big swirly lollipops while they sang their parts. "Letter" is the dancinest and my favorite, with its muffled bass drums and sonic enchantment, but "Lake" is a great, strummed acoustic ballad in the St. Etienne realm. I hear a different band every time I play this CD, only those kaleidoscopic lollipops stay the same. --- Dave Harrison