There is something utterly compelling, while appealingly elusive, about Cri$el Gems from Paul Bryan, the bass guitarist and Aimee Mann producer who has produced the album with guitarist Jeff Parker who also appears in a crunchingly groove heavy setting where Lee Pardini on electric piano adds a certain fizz.

Matt Mayhall on drums contributes a robustness to the concision of the largely Bryan-derived tunes, the groove fattened out by Davey Chegwidden's congas and Jay Bellerose's percussion. The album also includes a treatment of the Bryan/Mann song 'It's So Easy to Die.'

To be released in March on Bryan's own label.