Pop Music : Record Rack

DAYS OF THE NEW

“Days of the New 2”

Outpost Recordings

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In these days of dumbing down, merely aiming high is praiseworthy, even if the shot misses the mark. Such is the case with Travis Meeks, the auteur who dismantled his band Days of the New after a promising 1997 debut album (sort of acoustic Alice in Chains with a Southern accent) and ups the ante considerably with this follow-up (in stores Tuesday). Still centering on Meeks’ nimble acoustic guitar and menace-touched baritone voice, it’s an ambitious meditation on alienation that intersects Metallica and the Allman Brothers, seemingly designed to elicit such terms as “epic” and “challenging.”

It is both, though there’s a certain hit-or-miss quality to the kitchen-sink melange of strings and horns, offbeat synthesizer accents, angelic female backup singers, two electro-fusion instrumental interludes and such. Still, those elements are remarkably integrated into a strong package bespeaking a worthwhile musical vision.

What may be missing is a sense of emotional momentum or quest behind this epic. The dread Meeks seems to battle in these songs stays nameless and vague, therefore hard to get involved with. Of course, Meeks is barely in his 20s, a time when such fears are nameless and vague.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.