are recorded using an update of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique, with pianos, basses, backward guitars, theremin, harpsichord and sleigh bells piled on for texture while about eighty Matthew Sweets angelically harmonize. But like the classics "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " or "Be My Baby," these songs are such perfect little valentines that the production just brings them to larger life. "If Time Permits" is an appeal to right old wrongs; "Untitled" is about the ache of unfulfillment. Sweet isn't just making tidy date music here - he has something real to say about the passage of time and the wisdom that comes after youth. He's figured out what influences are for: not just to show how cool you are, but to help you make sense of the world, and yourself in it. (RS 826)

KAREN SCHOEMER