‘Movie’ Finds Everclear in a Sentimental Mood

With its cloying strings, soul horns and dearth of angry guitars, Everclear’s new album (due in stores Tuesday) indulges singer-songwriter-guitarist Art Alexakis’ pop tendencies, particularly his affection for the AM radio sound of his childhood. The music may be more genteel, but he remains sporadically adept at distilling personal experiences into sardonic lamentations, especially with the twanging “The Honeymoon Song” and its more strident companion, “Now That It’s Over.”

Nevertheless, the folky, melodic sweep of tracks such as “Otis Redding” brings one of Generation X’s living alternative heroes dangerously close to the blandness of Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, et al. Although it’s sweet that Alexakis loves his daughter, bookending the album with sentimental goo about being a dad is excessively obvious, to say the least. Fortunately, this insanity promises to be only temporary, since, in a move recalling XTC’s recent two-part “Apple Venus” series, this collection will be succeeded later this year by a purportedly more rocking “Vol. 2.”

Still, there are a couple of gems here, most notably the single “Wonderful,” a winsomely stinging kid’s-eye view of divorce. It’s also amusing to hear the beat and horns of Jean Knight’s 1971 hit “Mr. Big Stuff” fueling Alexakis’ rapping (?!) on “AM Radio.”

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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.