So Smooth, So Clever

Band: So.

Personnel: Mark Long, vocals, guitar; Marcus Miller, bass, keyboards; Sterling Campbell, drums; Lol Ford guitar; Terry King, keyboards; Annie Conway, Katie Humble, backing vocals.

History: South Londoners Long and Miller met through their girlfriends and discovered they had a mutual admiration for the Police--in fact, Long was initially impressed by Miller because, like Sting, he played a fretless bass, came from a jazz background and even had a slight physical resemblance to the head Police-man. The two formed a group called the Opposition and released two albums on an independent label, then were signed to the Charisma label in England. Consistently on the road, the Opposition toured with Thomas Dolby in America. After the Opposition disbanded, Miller and Long formed So. The group released its debut album “Horseshoe in the Glove” (on the EMI-Manhattan label) last February.

Sound: Instead of the often insistent and confrontational tactics many innovative bands use to engage their audiences, So’s smooth, very produced textures require a listener to be a passive bystander to its various commercial maneuvers. The group’s aural wallpaper is a mix-and-match melange of viable, even clever elements: You can find the cure for the sting of simple minds here as floating keyboards, heavy guitars and layered backup vocals ferry in and out of So’s sweeping, ready-for-radio mix. “Capitol Hill” mixes the “Billie Jean”/”Like a Virgin” rhythmic pulse with a guitar sound straight from an early INXS hit, as Long comes in with his Bono-meets-Robert-Smith strained vocals, all in the service of a cryptic lyric that seemingly refers to some American state of being. So is a group using its excellent musicianship to conceal a lack of anything truly new to say--and when it aims for poetic significance, the band has a studied seriousness that makes a metaphorical title like “Burning Bush” (with its sexual subtext) unintentionally hilarious. They’ll probably sell millions.

Shows: Tonight at the Bacchanal, Monday at the Roxy.