Red House Painters has always been Mark Kozelek's project, but Ocean Beach represents the first record that is almost entirely a solo project. Not that that distinction has made a great change in the music -- Ocean Beach is a spare, gentle, nearly painfully introspective folk-rock album that draws more from Simon & Garfunkel than Bob Dylan. Kozelek reigns in the droning, experimental tendencies of the group's first full-length album, yet he is more generous with his melodies and arrangements than the band's second untitled record. While Red House Painters remains very arty and self-conscious, Ocean Beach shows the singer/songwriter breaking out of his shell ever so slightly, bringing more fully developed songs and melodies with him.

The title notwithstanding, this debut from the former Faithless singer is pretty angelic-sounding stuff. You're bound to think of Sin�ad O'Connor, but the comparison is as misleading as it is inevitable. Granted, Dido's ethereal vocals here frequently recall O'Connor; but Dido's...