Jason Vigil

Jason Vigil wears his Heart on his new CD's cover, title track and every lyric he warbles. For that reason, his latest is sure to generate widely varied reactions. After spinning the disc, many listeners will relate to his every romantic complication, while others will feel the urge to do to him what Cher did to Nicolas Cage in Moonstruck: smack him across the cheek and shout, "Snap out of it!"

"Looking in the Sun" shows what Vigil and his band can do when they push themselves; the tune features a driving beat, a memorable melody, an arrangement filled with effective mini-hooks and a Vigil vocal that's impassioned in a cheese-free way. However, most of the other tracks tend toward slower tempos and performances that couldn't signal their sensitivity more overtly if they employed semaphore flags. That's especially true of "Sad Month" -- or, as Vigil sings, "this sad, this sad, sad, sad month."

After that, his sober heart could probably use a drink.