***1/2 Duncan Sheik

MOVIE MADNESS

(Atlantic)

After a year when even Beck went singer-songwriter on us, male sensitivos are on the rise. And though it may not have gotten as much hyperbolic press as Elliott Smith's gorgeous sob story, Duncan Sheik's second album forwards a similarly ambitious blend of pop and folk. With a text that evaluates the "beautiful masking" crucial to today's facade-obsessed culture, Humming's ornate settings manage a kind of homey extravagance that suits the singer. It's one of those albums on which shimmering instrumental settings overwhelm lyrical vagaries -- like Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle, Nick Drake's Bryter Layter, and a few other cherished discs. The stately musical furnishings inevitably become the main focus. Even the "Varying Degrees of Con-Artistry," with its London Session Orchestra girth, manages a pensive glamour that sucks you in deeper with each new listen. Here's a thumbs-up for the guy who ponders the value of illusions while creating one of the most gorgeous of the year.

-- Jim Macnie