Since its 1993 debut, "Palomine," the Dutch quintet Bettie Serveert has executed its quirky variant of power pop with perfect, understated grace. On its third album, Dust Bunnies, the group hasn't lost its distillable sound (epitomized by Palomine's title track) – songs such as "Musher" and "Misery Galore" open in spare, aimless fashion and then hypertrophy into melodically careening proclamations, with the band straining the song's fragile structure but keeping it intact.

The difference on Bunnies is that Serveert also have begun veering ever so slightly toward one outside style or another. "What Friends?," with its noise-drenched, spiraling guitar excursion, hints that they absorbed a bit of J Mascis in opening for Dinosaur Jr; "The Link" weds Th' Faith Healers to Rickie Lee Jones; "Dust Bunny" sounds like a precocious, pre-Guyville Liz Phair.

Serveert sounded preternaturally worldly-wise on their first album; now they're already making ironic noise about shifting units ("Everybody loves a band that sells"), a pique that usually hints that an artist has peaked. Dust Bunnies is anything but cynical or tired, though – singer Carol van Dijk's oddball charm works as foil to the studied perfection of the band. Lamprey, its second release, meandered too much; here, Bettie Serveert don't let their intentions get lost, and Dust Bunnies' songs instantly connect. Still, there's room in the lyrics not to take it all too seriously. On Dust Bunnies' last song, van Dijk sings about getting to heaven and then stops to wonder: "What the hell am I going to do?" (RS 760)

TOM VANDERBILT