Released on the Thievery Corporation's Eighteenth Street Lounge label, Blue States' debut album forgoes the so-cheesy-it's-dope exotica we've come to expect from the label's releases. The fact that ESL licensed Nothing Changes under the Sun from the tiny Memphis Industries imprint ensures that the wince-inducing gooeyness has been minimized, and the elegant chill pushed to the upper limits.

And chill this album firmly is. Nothing Changes under the Sun grabs hold of the baton passed by Groove Armada's Northern Star, replete with hummable melodies and contemplative moments of ambience. The Rhodes and brass soothe-a-thon "The Trainer Shuffle" even mimics the trombone lines of Groove Armada's classic "At the River."

Though Nothing Changes takes its cues from acts such as Groove Armada, Blue States frontman Andy Dragazis is far from a plagiarist. As his album demonstrates, he's got an undeniable gift for both melody and tempo. This combination peaks with "Stereo 99," which is comfortably reminiscent of John Barry's theme to You Only Live Twice, and ups the tempo just at the right point to propel the song into urgency before returning to the relaxed statement of the theme.

All but one of the tracks here are instrumentals, yet each is clearly its own individual song. Dragazis isn't a downtempo producer happy to leave a void at the center of his tracks-- we don't need to imagine some wan Beth Gibbons or media-savvy thug contributing to his pieces. In this regard, however, Blue States is in perilous territory. An unwary performer might fall into Bert Kaempfert's nefarious Muzak trap. But Dragazis negotiates the hazards of melody with the same dexterity as the High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan or Stereolab's Tim Gane. The lightly reverbed guitar melody of "Spit and Soar" is both sweetly melodic and, upon a closer listen, eerily beguiling. The brass lines of "Golden Touch" stalk the strident superman power of Strauss' "Also Spracht Zarathustra" before capitulating to the grace of flutes and a Rhodes piano. And all the while, a loose rhythm section locks these opposing forces into a satisfying steady-state.

Dragazis reserves the fullest display of his pop chops for "Your Girl," which has made appearances on many chill compilations. Beginning like the "Twin Peaks"-sampling Reich mix of "In the Trees" by prog-poppers No Man, "Your Girl" skips like a Balearic version of Everything but the Girl's "Wrong." The come-hither jailbait vocal coos, "If you want me for your girl/ All you have to do is see/ That you're not the boy for me." The strings amplify the boy's agony over being caught in this amour-paradoxe, and the insistence of the piano line reflect the jailbait's adamancy about remaining chastely taunting. If Britney had any taste, she'd have played this role and performed the vocals, rather than rubbing her groin against a pole during her virgin slut reworking of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

"Arion" tantalizes in a wholly different fashion-- it fulfills my life-long desire to hear what the Pale Saints might achieve in downtempo chill mode. "Elios Therapia" is Brotherhood of Man's "Angelo" kicked out of crapness up into triumphant, cockle-warming greatness.

Though Nothing Changes under the Sun doesn't grab the chill-out championship cup, Dragazis has navigated through a genre is riven with potential melodic cheesiness and overproduction, and come out with nary a scratch. It could teach artists how to avoid the easy-but-harmful sampling of thrift-store K-tel compilations and the entire so-crap-it's-awesome aesthetic. Learn from centuries of failed alchemists that what's base remains base-- ain't no gold in piles of shit. Nothing Changes under the Sun may be a statement of Dragazis' existential philosophy, but his remarkable debut album is determined to keep downtempo from stumbling into the dismal despondency that's already devoured ambient.

-Paul Cooper