Matthew’s Sweet--and Sour Too : Pop music: The artist, who plays the Coach House tonight, often takes a light approach yet seems attracted to the dark side of things.

Matthew Sweet is a cluster of contradictions. The singer-songwriter, who performs tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, tackles such weighty subjects as God, the meaning of life, and death, but he takes a jaunty, pop approach to his music that belies the depth of these concerns.

He sounds fascinated with the darkness and ugliness bubbling beneath the surface of a given situation. But his sunny, almost feminine face (he bears a resemblance to Donovan) seems in discord with his essence. Even his name is at odds with the often-brooding nature of his muse.

In any case, the 28-year-old addresses difficult issues with intelligence, wit and finely tuned sarcasm.

“When I write songs, it’s like an urge or feeling that I have, connected to base emotions,” he said during a recent phone interview. “It’s something I don’t think about a lot. It’s more of a gut-level feeling. Sometimes I write a happy, kinetic, dumb kind of song, but darker emotions tend to have more depth. . . .”

His melodies often have been compared to the Beatles’, an analysis with which he isn’t wholly comfortable, even though he acknowledges admiration for the group.

“They were one of the greatest groups, obviously. But sometimes I hear something ‘Beatle-esque’ in a way that I hate, like it’s really derivative. I think I get called that more because of the way I record; it’s really organic, with a lot of guitars, close harmonies and extreme stereo separation. I think the way I record evokes that era of music, that Liverpudlian thing. But I never spent a lot of time trying to learn Beatles songs or trying to write the way they did.”

Sweet’s sound is abetted by the contributions of a host of top musicians. Pianist Nicky Hopkins, drummer Mick Fleetwood and fiddler Byron Berline turn in guest spots on his latest album, “Altered Beast.” But the music behind the groove is largely due to the guitar work of New York underground pioneers Richard Lloyd (of Television) and Robert Quine (formerly with Richard Hell and the Voidoids and Lou Reed), who have worked regularly with Sweet for years.

“I was a fan of all those old Richard Hell and Television records, and they always had a certain pop element which I suppose influenced me,” Sweet said. “I’ve been playing with those guys for so long now, when people come up to me and say, ‘What’s it like to be playing with those legends?,’ it’s like . . . wow, I guess I never thought of it that way.”

“Altered Beast,” Sweet’s fourth album, is his most hard-edged and sullen effort to date. Coming on the heels of 1991’s critically lauded and commercially successful “Girlfriend”--a collection of hooky, power pop songs dealing mostly with relationships--”Beast” is a calculated risk for Sweet. But, he asserted, he always writes songs for himself first and foremost and lets the chips fall where they may.

“Because of the success of ‘Girlfriend,’ this is the first record I’ve put out where I have the audience expecting something from me. And I think I made a record that’s uncompromising, a record I wanted to make. ‘Altered Beast’ is more difficult in general. It’s more pent-up and unpleasant. It’s a deeper record and maybe a better record than ‘Girlfriend’ was. ‘Altered Beast’ is weirder and a little more out there.”

* Matthew Sweet sings tonight at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. The Jayhawks and Hollyfaith open; the show starts at 9. $23.50. (714) 496-8930.