Billboard CD reviews: Depeche Mode, Tinted Windows

ARTIST: DEPECHE MODE

ALBUM: SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE

NEW YORK (Billboard) - While most of its '80s electro-pop contemporaries have faded into semi-obscurity, Depeche Mode continues to produce darkly atmospheric tracks about love, lust and death that have the vulnerability and immediacy of a shared secret.

The chirps and bleeps that marked the band's debut, "Speak & Spell," gradually gave way to emotionally raw, expansive songs under the guidance of songwriter Martin Gore. After nearly 30 years, the trio -- now comprising Gore, Dave Gahan and Andrew Fletcher -- still imbues every aspect of its 12th studio album, "Sounds of the Universe," with imagery and sonic flourishes that make its music fresh and familiar. "Corrupt" and "Wrong" wouldn't be out of place on "Violator" or "Music for the Masses"; they possess the taut, Gothic glamour of those albums. Gahan handles provocative lyrics with his usual swagger. Some of the album's less successful songs -- "Little Soul," for example -- are also its sunniest and most languorous, and lack the dramatic tension that has been Depeche Mode's calling card. Despite the departure of Alan Wilder in 2005 and tales of intraband combustibility, "Sounds of the Universe" captures an act with enough passion and inspiration to teach the artists it has influenced a few new tricks.

ARTIST: TINTED WINDOWS

ALBUM: TINTED WINDOWS (S-Curve Records)

Although the roster of the newly formed act Tinted Windows is a bit of a head-scratcher -- middle Hanson brother Taylor Hanson, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos -- it all seems to make sense after one listen to the supergroup's self-titled debut. "Whoa whoa" and "come on, come on" choruses abound on a set that's packed with radio-ready pop tunes that will stick in your brain for days. The power-pop punch of songs like "Kind of a Girl," "Messing With My Head" and "Take Me Back" make up for the girl-woes lyrics that leave much to be desired ("Since you said goodbye/I just want to die"), while the cool, laid-back vibe of "Cha Cha" and the open-wide chorus of "Nothing to Me" set the perfect soundtrack to summer.

ARTIST: JESSE WINCHESTER

ALBUM: LOVE FILLING STATION (Appleseed Records)