Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson's high, breathy vocals rise out of the edgy, fuzz-tone swirl of their guitars – it's a tension of tenderness and toughness that captures Lush's fascinating ambiguity. This London quartet, formed in 1988, writes spare, midtempo love songs for wary romantics; there's always a hint, inside the sweetness, of trauma, loss, conflict. Lush's best material – "Light From a Dead Star," "Undertow," "Desire Lines" – is dreamlike, beautiful and disturbing. Producer Mike Hedges (the Cure) achieves a rougher sound than on Spooky (1992); with the gain in immediacy, Lush are even more haunting. (RS 690)

PAUL EVANS