Fridae

With her songs of solitary yearning and her much-copied forlorn delivery (yes, Dido, we're talking about you here), Ms Sarah McLachlan's brand of introspective music has earned her legions of gay and lesbian fans who suffer from melancholia or are trapped in long-suffering relationships.

As the three-time Grammy award-winning chanteuse's much-awaited studio album after the multi-platinum Surfacing in 1997, Afterglow is filled with beautifully crafted, melodically soothing and sensitively delivered songs.

Unfortunately, it also rehashes and recycles the McLachlan easy-listening template by offering the same themes of love and love lost, the same chord progressions, the same melancholic sounds, and the same delivery which alternates between earnest pleading and poignant vocal quivers. Not surprisingly, detractors of Ms McLachlan's music will barely be able to stifle their yawns while fans and contemporary pop-folk lovers will continue to lap it up.

As a true blue cigarette-lighter waving fan, Ms Scary obviously belongs to the latter category and to Ms Scary, the first single "Fallen" is a hypnotic reverie of confessional song-writing and soft melodic hooks which grow on the listener on repeat listens. Equally engrossing are the ironically up-tempo "World On Fire," the soft rock feel of "Stupid" and the angst-driven "Train Wreck."

Then there are the requisite ballads for which the Lilith Fair Queen is famous for such as "Push," an ode to unconditional love with its heart-melting lyrics ("You've seen me at my weakest but you take me as I am/And when I fall you offer me a softer place to land"); the reflective "Perfect Girl" with its hymn-like preamble and lovely vocal acrobatics; the Sarah-accompanied-by-a-piano ballad "Drifting"; and "Answer" (Afterglow's answer to "Angel") which Ms McLachlan describes as "a total, 2 o'clock in the morning, whispered-in-your-ears headphone track."

The only grouse Ms Scary has with Afterglow lies in the unfortunate new "image" spotted by the usually sophisticated and tasteful looking Ms McLachlan. The fashion atrocities are most glaring on the CD cover which has her looking like a wigwam hussy in a pose stolen from 1980s icon Belinda Carlisle's Runaway Horses and the center-fold which styles her as a disqualified contender for Ms Deepavali 1982 complete with ethnic multi-tiered chandelier earrings.

Ms Scary's final verdict: Filled with sweet Sarah-styled sounds that will have fans fumbling towards ecstasy but totally bereft of fashion sense.