The casual listener could be forgiven for using the term "space rock" to describe a band that calls itself Flying Saucer Attack and fuels its music with droning guitars, gauzy feedback and understated vocals. But the greatest low-fi export from Bristol, England, seems more interested in exploring the melancholic beauty of the English countryside than in escaping its environment through a galactic vortex.

True, the group is inspired by interstellar overdrivers like My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3 and Kraut-rock obscurists Popol Vuh, but Flying Saucer Attack temper their cosmic consciousness by blending organic folk rock and ambient passages into reverberating soundscapes, turning celestial expeditions into hazy, rural daydreams. Past album art depicting sunsets, murky forests and mountainous vistas supports the notion that Flying Saucer Attack are definitely of this earth.

The band's latest record, Chorus, is a collection of cuts that didn't surface on any of the group's previous three albums. Yet the disc holds together as a cohesive work, evolving like an iridescent slide show of natural wonders. The songs are simple and sparse, and only three have beats, allowing the band to overlap guitars and feedback trails without sounding too cluttered. Instead of relying on melody to propel their songs, Flying Saucer Attack opt for atmosphere, adding or removing layers of sound to alter the mood. Even so, the tunes aren't completely without structure.

"Feedback Song" features a lethargic drum pattern and a two-chord riff that glides by like a cool wind; "Always" starts with an overdistorted melody line before dissolving into a sea of white noise. Then there's "Second Hour," a more solid feedback sculpture that conjures images of wet grass and blackening skies. And just to prove they're more than the feedback flavor of the month, Flying Saucer Attack close with two plaintive and practically noise-free tracks, "February 8th" and "There Dub," that display the band at its most vulnerable.

The liner notes state that Chorus "marks the end of FSA Phase 1." Perhaps Phase 2 will be filled with the sounds of supernovas and meteor showers, but for now, Flying Saucer Attack continue to gaze at the skies with their feet planted firmly on the ground. (RS 731)

JON WIEDERHORN