The first solo effort by breeders guitarist Kelley Deal lasts a paltry 31 minutes. It makes for a neat demo-tape showcase of her first attempts at songwriting, but as a CD – and carrying a CD's hefty price tag – the project is too slight to get excited over. After Deal completed a rehabilitation program for heroin problems, she recorded Go to the Sugar Altar with members of prominent indie bands the Grifters and the Frogs, choosing to release the music herself despite major-label interest. The results eschew the intense introspection of psychotherapy for the dadaesque pleasure of Deal's psychobabble.

Like many other post-punkers, from Sebadoh to Ween, Deal likes to keep things informal (note the half-assed, underrehearsed closer "Mr. Goodnight") and freely incorporates differing genres. The three-chord clanger "How About Hero" is garage rock with tripped-out slide guitar for extra colorful effect. "Sugar" is Prince-style balladry via Stax-Volt, featuring a divalike vocal by Deal. "A Hundred Tires" careens at hardcore speed for a little more than a minute and a half, then breaks down into crude guitar atonalities.

Since Deal is a dabbler musically, it's up to her lyrics to pull the album together. Unfortunately, her assertion in "Canyon" that "success has fit me like a shroud" is one of the record's few straightforward lines. Wordplay like "Buttershift nut, high-heeled petting toy/How about road smear, Camaro leer" ("How About Hero") sounds like the work of someone who is avoiding more serious issues. That's Deal's right, but the lack of insight in the music means Go to the Sugar Altar is just a sketch of what could have been a convincing self-portrait.

For more information, write Nice Records, 571 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102. (RS 744)

ROB O'CONNOR