There are still layers of the American rock underground yet to be unearthed. Some of its most spiritual, introspective music is made in quiet corners that are easy to overlook. East River Pipe is actually one man – F.M. Cornog – who has been making records since the late '80s in a small apartment in Queens, in New York. Cornog, who was once homeless and sleeping in a Hoboken, N.J., train station, writes songs that mine those experiences to create a worldview where everyone is fragile and possibly doomed.

Mel continues that downward spiral. The song titles are a giveaway: "The Club Isn't Open," "I Am a Small Mistake," "We're Going to Nowhere" (with its inspirational verse "We're going to nowhere/Tie my arm off tight/Crack open a tallboy/Pass me your pipe"). Cornog's music reflects the cramped quarters in which it was created – a wall of reverb, guitars and keyboards meshed together to unsettling effect, a voice that is barely audible but determined to sing of the universe in which it exists. Yet Cornog's pop sensibility gives his songs an unexpected lift. By the time he's repeating the word love at the end of "Life Is Born Today," you can hear how music has become his salvation.

Low are a trio from Duluth, Minn., specializing in an even quieter brand of despondency. Its sound is composed of equal parts air and vibe. You don't so much listen to Low's songs as osmotically absorb them. The stately pacing gives much of the material a hymnal quality, and percussionist Mimi Parker's vocals beautifully counterpoint the gnarly mumble of her husband, guitarist Alan Sparhawk.

The Curtain Hits the Cast is Low's third album and continues the slow burn so brilliantly featured on last year's Transmission EP (the title track was an ace cover of the Joy Division classic). "The Plan," with its gorgeous, layered harmonies, has a healing touch. "Over the Ocean" actually shimmers like water, and the humming 14 and a half minute "Do You Know How to Waltz?," with producer Steve Fisk on keyboards, is a spatial high brought to a gentle resolution with the 53-second lullaby "Dark." A fine end to perfect late-night fare.

For more information, write to Merge Records, PO Box 1235, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. (RS 745)

ROB O'CONNOR