Using the name Science for Girls as an overall moniker for his project in the same way that, say, Stephin Merritt uses the 6ths, Darren Solomon makes his own equivalent to such a release with the self-titled debut of the project, an album dedicated to all that is self-consciously suave and cool. Which, to be frank, is pretty much both the raison d’etre and the ultimate limitation of the album — an eternal return to a sound of suaveness that is as much a reimagining of the vaguely tropical-sounding past as acts like Antena and Thievery Corporation were in their days, to name only two examples. Alternately, songs like “Northern Lights” suggest the ultimate end point of Portishead’s disturbing fusions smoothed out into cocktail-hour soundtracking. Part of the problem is that nearly all the guest vocalists don’t move much beyond the atmospheres Solomon creates — everyone’s so intent on matching the reflective feeling created that it just becomes all the more comfortable background music. As a result it’s the relative exceptions which stand out, and if they can’t really make the album as a whole work, they do provide the clear high points. “Violets” is a good example, thanks to Renee Cologne putting in a clear, soaring vocal with a bit of bite that contrasts all the soothing singing on display most everywhere else. Similarly the darker (if not exactly pitch black) groove of “Pattern Recognition” further anchors the whole listen more effectively than earlier songs, so if it’s a bit too little too late, it’s still a high point. – Ned Raggett