Giving a little absolute truth to the overused term "college-rock," New Radiant Storm King was christened on the campus of exclusive, expensive Hampshire College-- an institution better known for producing well-heeled publishing snobs and many of America's most radical trust-funded Marxists. Basically, instead of taking a job as editorial assistants at The Nation, Matt Hunter and Peyton Pinkerton formed an indie rock band. Over the years, with a few shifts in personnel, they've become the consummate "college-rock" band-- nerdy, happily obscure, underrated, and far-removed from major-label bidding wars.

Although the trio met with slow beginnings, releasing a couple of mediocre albums in the early '90s, suddenly 1996's Hurricane Necklace was one of the decade's best, and Singular, No Article, in some ways, reemphasizes and builds upon that rich twin-guitar sound without taking away from the songs' slightly obscured but detectable indie pop accessibility.

Storm King's songs thrive on intricate guitar detail and clever interaction, and not without the occasional explosions of distorted guitar and understated rhythms. They engage in six-string banter on Singular, No Article that's probably a little closer to the thrilling linear interplay of Verlaine and Lloyd's guitars than the random noise-art collisions of Ranaldo and Moore.

There's a wealth of clever stylistic touches all over the album. Guitar tones are varied throughout, ranging from brittle twang to chiming chords, with some well-placed harmonics here and there. Slide guitar lines ascend into space with Pink Floyd-ian delay effects. Squeaky-clean arpeggios float over moody rhythm guitar. There are numerous dramatic moments and unexpected twists on the same old done-to-death indie rock formula. Unconventional melodies and inventive chord constructions materialize without reliance on weird tunings, tape-looped effects, or other dubious "modern"-sounding synthetic aid. These guys are also prone to tack on a few chamber-pop string sections now and again-- a subtle integration that somehow works.

Through it all, they manage to strike a balance between geeky banality and blinding guitar-deity creativity. But on the downside, the vocals rarely rise above or below a prudent even keel. Moreover, their lyrics too often smack of the classroom (come to think of it, so does the use of "moreover"). And even when they make attempts at Pavement-like humor and irony, they kind of embarrass themselves. Considering the geek-humor grammatical reference in the album's title alone, you get a sense of their approach to lyrics.

Yes, the heavy-handed manner in which they string words together basically screams "we're students!" and the lyrics themselves play like Man or Astro-Man song titles ("Barium springs from your forehead/ Ionized and realized.") Of course, this style also draws from the vocabulary of David Lowery, the Dean of all self-consciously flippant student-rockers. With probably little significant post-University life experience to draw upon, their employment of empty pseudo-intellectual verbiage isn't too surprising. But as usual, when the two guitars interlock, gather momentum and surge above the vocals, you quickly pardon the pretentious lyrics.

If you're able to get past the nerd-rock exterior of Singular, No Article, you'll find a first-rate guitar album. In fact, I'm baffled as to why these guys feel the need to use (or in this case, abuse) the English language, period. For me, New Radiant Storm King's uncommonly articulate, conversational guitars more than make up for their stilted Star Trek-ian speech habits.

-Michael Sandlin