My Superhero’s Special Power Is Strong Songs : MY SUPERHERO “Solid State 14” Sick Little Monkey Music ** 1/2

Play ska, young man (or woman). With apologies to Horace Greeley, that’s the best career advice available at the moment for Orange County rockers hoping to advance their fortunes.

The mega-selling No Doubt emerged from the local ska scene with zesty pop charm, and Reel Big Fish is moving toward rock stardom, too, with its catchy but cranky and superficial ska-punk rants about hating rock stardom. The Aquabats, a masked band of funny comic-book heroes, and Save Ferris, which mixes ‘40s and ‘50s swing into the ska formula, are other leading contenders for wider notice.

On the grass-roots level, ska bands benefit from the ready-made and expanding subculture of Southern California kids who love to spring and bounce to that happily skipping Jamaican beat. But songs are the key to making a lasting impact outside any subgenre, be it ska, punk, electronic dance music or whatever the next hyped style might be. And My Superhero has the best batch of songs I’ve heard among the local ska scene’s grass-roots contenders.

“Solid State 14,” the Anaheim-based band’s second CD in two years, isn’t a full-blown success, but there are signs of great potential in its tunefulness and savvy song arrangements.

No Doubt’s ex-member and accomplished tunesmith, Eric Stefani, is credited as “technical advisor,” and the album’s deft array of shifting densities, tempos and appealing harmonies suggests that My Superhero is getting pretty good technical advice from somewhere.

The songs often replicate Goldfinger’s appealing blend of ska lightness and melodic-punk aggression, but My Superhero can branch out with bits that show a fondness for the likes of early Joe Jackson and chiming, heraldic U2 anthems.

The bridge and end tag of “Your Little Problem,” one of the best songs, surges like the ending of Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love,” and “Reggie” explodes unexpectedly into Pete Townshend power chords lifted straight from “Tommy.” Mike Bereault’s accordion and Moog synthesizer are used for decoration and filigree, but the meat of the sound lies in the varied, well-conceived approaches taken by guitarists Huy Q. Huynh and Brian Gilmore.

*

Growth on the part of Gilmore, the band’s singer-songwriter, is the key to its prospects. Can he muster more force and body to flesh out an expressive but nasally thin voice that too often wanders off-key while sounding like a midget clone of Elvis Costello? The backing voices help, but a bigger presence is needed out front.

Also, can Gilmore get beyond simple, declaratory lyric writing in which he sketches vague scenarios about getting dumped, feeling bad about it and wondering how to proceed through the post-teenage wasteland?

The album’s best song, “Sympathy for the Ants,” enlivens the same-old-same-old twentysomething rejection-hope-anxiety theme by tapping into the power of metaphor. Likening his lot to that of a drone ant, Gilmore gains the fresh slant that’s the difference between routine songwriting and the good stuff.

(Available from Sick Little Monkey Music, 2166 W. Broadway, Suite 270, Anaheim, CA 92804, or (714) 772-4872. e-mail: msuperhro@aol.com; Internet: https:/www.hallucinet.com/mysuperhero.)

*

Ratings range from * (poor) to **** (excellent), with three stars denoting a solid recommendation.