The Verve

Annie Zaleski

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008 | midnight

Bands can go one of two routes when they reunite after prolonged time apart: re-emerge as a touring-only nostalgia act that reaps financial dividends, or attempt to rekindle the creative flame and become a relevant sonic force once again.

The potential for embarrassment might actually be greater with the latter, but U.K. psych-rockers The Verve manage to avoid mortification with Forth, their first new record since 1997’s blockbuster Urban Hymns (and subsequent 1999 breakup). Forth—the band’s fourth full-length overall, get it?—merges the sleek, streamlined production of Hymns with the sprawling drones of earlier albums such as A Northern Soul.

The gospel-referencing “Rather Be” is a slick slice of bluesy keyboard-pop, while several tracks (“Sit and Wonder,” specifically) find rhythmic inspiration in the laissez-faire, slow-roiling Madchester scene. Nick McCabe coaxes gentle outer-space lullabies (“Valium Skies”) and distressed psych-soul (“Sit and Wonder”) from his guitar, while vocalist Richard Ashcroft is (bizarrely) a dead ringer for U2’s Bono on most tracks.

Still, The Verve’s strength always stemmed from its ability to create moods and atmosphere. On Forth, that talent emerges most on the Blue Nile-reminiscent “I See Houses,” an impossibly melancholy song featuring a sighing piano melody and orchestra-swelled choruses, and the molten snarl “Noise Epic,” an eight-minute garage-rock buzz laced with distortion and thundering rhythms.

Unfortunately, not everything on Forth is as memorable or energetic; in fact, many of the album’s blissed-out tunes lose focus and meander into monotony. Lead single “Love Is Noise” is just puzzling, a synth-pop-glazed anthem marred by banal lyrics and vocal tics resembling a squawking duck. Then again, every previous Verve album seemed to suffer from the same curse, which makes Forth not just a fine addition to the band’s catalog, but also a comforting return to form.

The bottom line: ***1/2