Morphine: Like Swimming

By now, most people know Morphine's story: The Boston trio makes dark, creepy, slippery music using only drums, a baritone sax and a two-string slide bass. But as the band has prepared to make its long-awaited leap to a major label, it's remained unclear how long Morphine can continue to find new things to do with its distinctively elemental, guitar-less formula. Fortunately, there are enough quirks on Like Swimming—stuff like the whispered closing track "Swing It Low" and the growling, surprisingly intense slide-bass solos on "Murder For The Money"—to differentiate the album from its three decidedly similar predecessors. Morphine blends moods more effectively than ever here; the sad and the sinister coexist seamlessly, often within the same song. If you've heard the band before, you instantlyrecognize its signatures: the liquid bass, the drowsy saxophone, singer Mark Sandman's unmistakable, half-spoken moan. On the surprisingly diverse Like Swimming, the ingredients remain intact, but Morphine still does a nice job mixing them up to sound like new.