Rotten Pear, Kelp Records ****

The characters in Canadian Andrew Vincent's interesting lo-fi fifth album suffer frustration at every turn. Beneath the almost naive instrumentation, there lurks a grim pattern of blight, accentuated by his clean but slightly weary voice.

The opening song, hi lo, is the defeated cry of a partner of an addict; Nobody Else,one of two pumped-up rock tracks, is the desperate plea of young unrequited love; Going Out Tonightis vengeance on the prowl; Fooled Againis growing up the hard way; Diane is another kiss-off ("Hey Diane you never want to hold my hand . . . "). And so on. The 12 tracks, including two covers (Kate Bush's Hounds of Loveis definitely iffy) paint a picture of a world where frustration and petty violence lie in wait around the corner. Although Vincent is apparently most influenced by Jonathan Richman, this album is redolent of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, a bleak landscape where nothing good ever happens. www.andrewvincent.com

Download tracks: Diane, Under Your Thumb, hi lo