Jonny Greenwood writes orchestral scores; Thom Yorke programs glitch beats. Drummer Phil Selway, evidently, spends his time off from Radiohead as a closet art-folkie. His debut reveals a delicate high-tenor voice (akin to Yorke's but less tortured), using acoustic guitars in songs that recall U.K. brooders John Martyn and Nick Drake. Wilco's Glenn Kotche and Patrick Sansone build backdrops; Lisa Germano, whose fragile songwriting seems to have influenced this introspective set, adds harmonies. "What we see in the cold light/Can scare us all," Selway whispers on "Don't Look Down," a gorgeous ballad that visits dark places, as do other songs. You expected "Kumbaya"? News flash: Radiohead officially have another songwriter.

“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"