If the melancholy spirit of the Grifters' new album, Full Blown Possession, was personified, it would be a guy shuffling, head down, through life ("Happy"), picking his emotional scabs ("Blood Thirsty Lovers") and looking up only for a stiff drink and a red-haired woman ("Cigarette"). On Possession, the Memphis, Tenn., indie rockers' three guitars and the assorted Moog, Mellotron and organ create a neopsychedelic ocean fed by rivers of blue-eyed funk, classic trash rock and postmodern blues. "Sweetest Thing" encompasses a lot of that, pairing a mournful guitar and harmonica duet with industrial guitar and baroque clavinet for a lament that verges on dirge. And when a heartbroken Scott Taylor recalls a lost love, moaning, "That's the sweetest thing I ever heard," it's clear why the Grifters keep their heads down. (RS 769)

NATASHA STOVALL