Solo albums from bandleaders typically explore textures different from those favored by their bands, or allow the writers to be a bit more personal or intimate outside of the more social band setting. Franklin Bruno's new solo CD is typical in that regard, but is certainly not typical if that word means only "mediocre." Most songs here feature a single electric guitar accompanied by acoustic bass, with only about half adding drums. Additional instrumental color is provided by the occasional keyboard, horn, and so forth. Only one song, "Nickname Stuck," features the full-band set-up of a Nothing Painted Blue album. After an introductory track of ambient synthesizer, "Just Because It's Dying" sets the tone: electric guitar, upright bass, voice, and a xylophone adding texture to the coda. Without at all grubbing for false prestige or pretending to vocal technique beyond Bruno's means, most songs evoke a sort of jazz-like ambiance well-suited to the lyrics' tone. While Bruno's famous wit is still present, the defensive, distancing effect of that wit is occasionally reduced in favor of more direct (if still finely nuanced and carefully metered) expression: "Idiots" may be the most personal - or at least personal-seeming - song in Bruno's canon, expressing contempt of the narrowmindedness that uncomfortably cinches in taste, style, and physical appearance. While a handful of songs are forgettable (as in: I had to check the CD case to remember which songs they were), on the whole this is a fine stopgap measure between (we hope) Nothing Painted Blue releases. A minor triumph, but a triumph nonetheless. (And bonus points for the packaging - which fit the title perfectly while having nothing to do with Ace, Gene, Paul, and Peter.)

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