A busy Stringfellow creates chill CD

In the past 18 months, Ken Stringfellow, co-founder of the 1990s Seattle pop band The Posies, has seen the reformation of his old band, the release of a greatest hits CD, two live albums, a four-disc box set and a brand new EP. \nHe's toured twice with The Posies, recorded with REM for Reveal and toured with the group as a supporting player. He's played with the live version of Big Star, released albums with pop supergroups The Orange Humble Band and The Minus 5 and worked as producer/musician with the indie band Spiv. \nAnd now he's found the time to release Touched, his second solo album. And you thought you've been busy.\nGiven all this, maybe it's no coincidence that Touched sounds like Stringfellow taking a deep breath and dimming the lights for some good ol' R&R. This is not to say that the man who once helped define 1990s Beatlesque pop has lost his touch; these melodies are as vital as any of his career. But they do show, in both sound and lyric, a mellower side to Stringfellow. \nThe opener, "Down Like Me," is a depressive ode to a lost friend led by affecting slide-guitar lament. "Reveal Love" has Stringfellow, as if lying on the floor with longing seeping from his pores, pleading with the one he desires not to hide her love away, while at the same time sounding resigned to her head games. \nMusically, Touched features some different textures, vocally and arrangement-wise. "Uniforms" shows Stringfellow spreading his songwriting wings ala later-period Elvis Costello with a vaguely operatic, multi-instrumental and orchestrated pop melange. \n"Spanish Waltz" is a dirgelike, psychedelic Pink Floydian rocker and "The Lover's Hymn" showcases Stringfellow's unlikely and seldom used falsetto in a loungey/jazz-type piece that differs from anything he's done before this.\nUltimately, though, Touched is about what every other Stringfellow project has been about -- the melodies. Just because they're a bit softer doesn't mean they're any less stellar. Let's just hope he takes it a little easier this year.