Lisa Loeb was miss ubiquity 1995. Scampering across MTV lip-syncing her best-selling singles "Stay (I Missed You)" and "Do You Sleep?," she was all cat's-eye glasses and perky, in-your-face insouciance. Her sheer uncoolness personified one of those moments when pop and rock colluded to make Top 40 radio fun again, the stuff of sunny afternoons spent cruising in a car with the volume dial cranked to the right.

Lisa Loeb has sobered since then, and the results are disappointing. The endearing naiveté and frothy, indie-rock guitar of her debut album, Tails, have been replaced on Firecracker by staid arrangements and lackluster riffs. Loeb's songwriting and delivery haven't aged as much as she apparently thinks they have, either – at least not enough to allow her to pull off a meandering mantra such as "I was restless/I was restless/I was restless/I was restless" on the cloying "Wishing Heart" (a track that, incomprehensibly, lifts the intro guitar lick of the Who's "Pinball Wizard"). Still, Loeb occasionally manages to infuse life into her tenuous song structures: With its dense harmonies and sledgehammer hooks, the opening track, "I Do," has the makings of a decent AM-radio sing-along. And the plaint in "Falling in Love" – "The time between meeting and finally leaving is sometimes called falling in love" – is pure, slushy pop poesy.

Firecracker might signify that Loeb's star is fading; it's equally likely, though, that this second album is merely the sound of a songwriter stumbling toward adulthood with a sophomore's two left feet. Loeb's chops should improve with practice; whether or not she herself is going to grow up remains to be seen. (RS 774)

NEVA CHONIN