AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB, “San Francisco” ( Reprise...

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB, “San Francisco” ( Reprise ) *** 1/2

The San Francisco that the American Music Club evokes is a shrouded, misty place--embracing and claustrophobic, full of both possibility and dead ends. It’s a perfect habitat for mope-rock genius Mark Eitzel, who kicks off his band’s seventh album in a voice that struggles to break above a whisper. “Lost again, am I lost again,” he croaks, establishing a ground note of subdued desperation.

Eitzel’s Angst isn’t fueled just by love’s elusiveness; even when it’s present it’s not enough. In one of the album’s many images for the heart, he sees it as a revolving door--never open, never tired. And in one of the many images involving intoxicants, he offers a classic couplet, “How many six-packs does it take to screw in a light / It’s good to be alive babe, sometimes it’s alright.”

That’s about as up as things get, though the band (which plays the Roxy on Nov. 22) twice storms out of its pop-noir atmospherics and generally comes up with a varied, S.F.-flavored menu of folk-rock, acid-rock, lounge pop and exotica.

It sometimes bogs down in its moroseness, but “San Francisco” can hold its own with rock’s other great city albums, X’s “Los Angeles” and Lou Reed’s “New York.”

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).