Sleeper

The full-length debut by Australia's Godstar — really just a cover name for singer/songwriter Nic Dalton and whoever else happens to be in the room with him at the time — was recorded in Boston with Lemonheads buddy Evan Dando (Dalton was temporarily the Lemonheads' bassist at the time), and homeland compatriots Tom Morgan and Alison Galloway (of Smudge), with guest shots by Volcano Suns' Bob Weston and the Hummingbirds' Robyn St. Clare and Rachael King. Unlike a lot of supergroup-style projects, however, the focus remains entirely on Dalton through these 14 songs. His affably plain punk-pop voice is at the focus of most of these songs (although Galloway and Morgan both step up to the mic a couple times), which speed by in a couple minutes each on a wave of distorted guitars and righteously sloppy drumming. What makes Godstar different is that Dalton is both a skilled melodicist and a smart lyricist, in an offhand but never half-baked way. The songs are unpretentious but extremely catchy, and Sleeper basically sounds like what might have happened if Dando's drug problem hadn't interfered so much with his songwriting. "Bad Bad Implications," in particular, really deserved to be a hit.