Lately, many rock bands have taken to naming themselves after something of a color - we now have The White Stripes and The Black Keys gracing international stages - and, of course, black is the darkest color of them all. But while the mood of The Black Spoons mood is, indeed, sinister, their outlook is far from bleak.

Breaking onto the New York scene with their debut CD, My Dear Radium, the band is taut, but unrestrained. The romantically tinged opening guitar on "Marie Curie" gives way to a hook-laden melodic triumph that is carried throughout the album on songs like "Chemical Sue" and "The Pleasure of Sin Without Sin". Tunes like "Password" and "Patient Little Secret" are instantly memorable, yet never clichéd, with a sultry low-end tinge like early Led Zeppelin, but a mysterious modernity as compelling as Interpol.

Lyrically, My Dear Radium is a concept album steeped in break-up bitterness, attuned to the theme of chemistry and the various elements that make up our universe. But its distinctly intellectual approach and discreetly eerie elegance, carried out by Tom Sean's softly wailing vocals, never undermine the emotional intensity of heartache this overwhelmingly harsh and hauntingly beautiful.

A. Koledin