THE CHURCH
Untitled #23
Second Motion

Had U2 never achieved global mega-stardom and instead come of age on some far-off land mass -- Australia, say -- its present-day output might sound something like "Untitled #23," the latest from the Church.

The collection presents Big Music on a manageable scale, and even if the songs reference fire, water and sky, the long-running Aussie quartet forgoes the kind of sonic grandiosity such subject matter tends to invite.

Singer Steve Kilbey's inscrutable nature metaphors come wrapped in effortless melodies and cushiony psychedelic guitars -- elements better suited for theaters than soccer stadiums.

While the Church's music is decidedly less ambitious than U2's, it can be nearly as dramatic. Throughout the album, Kilbey builds Bono-like from whispers to booming declarations, and as he delivers such lines as, "I've got my hand on my heart/ I've got my heart on my mind," from the standout "Pangaea," he manages just the right amount of earnestness.

With "On Angel Street," the band leans on its darker impulses, replacing its usual swirling '60s jangle with throbbing alarm-clock keyboards. The track's stark minimalism underscores the simple beauty of the other nine songs.

"Music plays, the space between the notes full of haze," Kilbey sings on the disc's final track, "Operetta," offering as good a criticism as any of the preceding 50 minutes.

Essential download: "Operetta"

-- Kenneth Partridge