In the notes accompanying his second solo album, David Baerwald says: "In the daytime, I'm generally so pissed off I can hardly breathe. At night, I'm mostly just sad and scared out of my wits." Heavy. But how does that translate to songwriting? On Triage, the dark twists that gave the slight love songs from Bedtime Stories (1990) some weight have turned black and burdensome.

Triage...

As David and David, Davids Baerwald and Ricketts made momentary history with the 1986 release of Boomtown, a spare, painful chronicle of how ugly disappointment can be when it's California's golden promise that fails. Boomtown was the last gasp of postpunk artists who were learning that they either had to change their anti-industry tune or sink like a stone. The record did neither, but when the...