Emancipated Hearts

Dean Wareham is one of the great New York guitar sophisticates, crafting soft, elegant indie rock in Galaxie 500, Luna and his husband-wife duo, Dean and Britta. He's now an Angeleno, and his first solo album is characteristically refined and intimate, sung in a hymnlike mumble and steeped in the Velvet Underground, classical string drones, synth-pop and country music (the digital-only version has a great Everly Brothers cover). Songs like "The Deadliest Day Since the Invasion Began" evoke loss, sorrow and political angst but always with great warmth; when he sings, "We'll find a way to make the piggies pay," it's a protest slogan that feels like highbrow pillow talk.