Bar/None

This new-age rock band from Nebraska combines the soothing sounds of guitar and vibraphone with the intoxicating vocals of lead singer Ted Stevens. A group with a kind of Marcy Playground feel, Lullaby for the Working Class's spiritual music induces the listener into a sort of narcotic sleep, leaving you feeling as though you should be either meditating or jumping off of a building.

The group's debut album, Song, is appropriately titled: there is so little differentiation between the tracks that the album just appears to be one very long, 55-minute song. Still, as their name implies, the group emphasizes traditional working-class dreams, questions and fears in their admirable lyrics. This twisted dichotomy of harsh, realistic lines and dreamy background music is fascinating in the first tract, but becomes a bit monotonous after appearing incessantly throughout the album. If you're able to get past the tedious three-minute instrumental introductions of each track, powerful lines such as, "What good is ones toil underneath the sun?/that same indifferent sphere gave birth to the shadows/where we count the days off by headlines on the morning paper" (from "Seizures") are sure to move you. B-