YOU know, pop music gets a bad rep. Sure, it can be disposable. Sure, it can be lightweight.

But sometimes an artist can be so defiantly anti-pop, so seemingly worthy that it makes you yearn for instant hooks and bubblegum lyrics. I can't blame Paddy Casey for not being what he doesn't want to be, but I wish he dared to venture into the mainstream.

Only sometimes does his work aspire to be memorable, such as the intense Self Servin' Society. Elsewhere, he comes off too often like a chip off David Gray's block. He will have devotees who worship his left-of-mainstream credentials, but this is far too humdrum a showcase for a man of his talents.

Updated: 08:39 Thursday, March 25, 2004