David Freel of Swell has been creating gentle, intoxicating, swirling music from his base in San Francisco since the early "90s. Although critics like to contrast his sound with the stuttering slacker charm of followers Grandaddy and Elliott Smith, Swell is somewhat more refined. The title track is a subtle brooding anthem, while the instrumental, "I Don"t Think So," is reminiscent of the ecstatic experimentation of Flying Saucer Attack from Bristol, England. "Bored and crazy / Everything was maybe / Let"s take a different point of view," Freel sings on the self-immolating, Sebadoh-esque "I Like Poverty." Indeed. --Jerry Thackray