Spain n. 1.A kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula in SW Europe, including the Balearic and Canary Islands, pop. 36,400,000. 194,988 sq mi. (505,019 sq. km). Capital: Madrid, pop. 3,500,000. Principle language: Spanish. Traditional music: flamenco. Also, Espana

Spain n. 2.A modern band from the "alternative camp that debuted in 1995 with The Blue Moods of Spain, following in 1999 with She Haunts My Dreams and again in 2001 with I Believe, pop. 4. Area: N/A. Capital: none, the members all live in separate cities. Principle language: English. Traditional music: downcast, yet melodic and pretty pop-rock featuring mostly neutral lyrics about love with an occasional dash of optimism, longing, or melancholy.

You may have noticed that Spain and Spain don't really have all that much in common. In fact, Spain, aren't even from Spain; they're American. Mind you, this doesn't stop vocalist Josh Haden from singing with a slight English accent, a move that only serves to further confuse the band's geographical situation. There was a time, back in the 70s, when bands with place-names-- Boston, Kansas, Chicago-- actually came from the places they were named after. Made things a whole lot easier for reviewers.

But, of course, the 80s and 90s ruined that, as Asia, Japan, and Texas-- all from Britain-- began climbing the charts. Now I don't know what to think at all when a band comes sporting a geographical location in their moniker. But this is not the issue at hand. The issue at hand is the American band Spain's third album, which I must say is rather dull.

Spain is lead by the aforementioned Josh Haden, who you may know as the younger brother of Petra and Rachel from That Dog. All three are the offspring of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden, an early collaborator of free-jazz visionary Ornette Coleman, and the band leader on nearly thirty albums of his own. Needless to say, none of children followed in his musical footsteps, but his son did at least pick up the bass.

Haden is joined in Spain by guitarist/keyboardist Shon Sullivan, drummer Will Hughes, and guitarist Merlo Podlewski, all of whom are impeccable musicians in their own right. The problem is that when the four of them join forces, the music they make is merely competent, and rarely anything more. As a result, I Believe is one of those albums that hardly anyone could bring themselves to hate, but almost no one could truly latch on to.

The album opens with "She Haunts My Dreams," a midtempo number with a fairly spacious arrangement that sounds, for all the world, like it could be a lost Coldplay track. To be fair, Spain have been around for a lot longer than Coldplay, and Haden never clumsily reaches for a falsetto he can't quite manage the way Chris Martin does, but the similarity is absolutely uncanny. For the first time in Spain's career, Haden has also opted to give his songs fuller, wetter production, which makes the comparison that much more apt.

As the disc spins on, we're confronted by a series of songs that all suffer from the same afflictions, to varying degrees. For one thing, Haden's melodies are limited in range, and as a result, few of them are particularly memorable. As you're listening, each song is pleasant enough-- you can picture Haden sitting in a wood-paneled studio huddled over his bass and a microphone, pouring out his heart-- but nothing really differentiates one from another.

"You Were Meant for Me" is a slow, intimate, organ-kissed song about being in love, with a subdued melody and restrained playing. "Do You See the Light?" is a slow, intimate, organ-kissed song about being in love, with a subdued melody and restrained playing. "Oh That Feeling" is a slow, intimate, organ-kissed song about being in love, with a subdued melody and restrained playing. Are you beginning to sense a theme here?

At this point, I think it's important to mention that none of these songs are really bad, but sitting through them all in a row is a chore. Fully half of them use the word "girl" in the chorus to refer to a lover, and grates by the time you get to the title track. "I Believe" is actually one of the fastest songs on the album, bumping the familiar clean-toned guitar lines ahead a few ticks on the metronome for something that approaches jangly pop, but doesn't quite make it.

Elsewhere, it takes a few listens for it to sink in that "Mary" only has three actual lines of lyrics composed for it, one of which is "Mary, Mary." It's yet another slow, intimate, organ-kissed song about being in love, with a subdued melody and restrained playing, so it doesn't exactly stick out of the bunch.

For the big wrap-up, I've been thinking about some possible phrases that best describe my feelings toward Spain. I came up with a few like "pretty, but dull," "nice, but unengaging," and "pleasant, unobtrusive wallpaper," but then I noticed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sitting on my shelf and realized that the late, great Douglas Adams had perhaps already said it best: "mostly harmless."

-Joe Tangari, October 19th, 2001