Alanis Morissette: So-Called Chaos

Reviewed by REBECCA BARRY

Herald rating: * *

Love can have a disastrous effect on songwriting. Before meeting her live-in boyfriend, Alanis Morissette seemed doomed to live out her Valentine's Days writing scornful songs about her sugardaddy exes, the most furious ending up on the unbeatable debut album, Jagged Little Pill.

Her albums since have sounded like mental sticking plasters, whether she is ripping them off on the esoteric Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie or re-applying them on the self-counselling Under Rug Swept.

On her fourth album she puts music to nauseating love letters, the worst being Everything, a saccharine melody and message that goes something like: "Thank you for putting up with me even though I'm probably the most difficult woman to live with in North America".

This despite a promising start. The grungy Eight Easy Steps unleashes those familiar grinding guitars and lyrics in the spirit of early hit Ironic as she aims to teach her listeners "how to hate women when you're supposed to be a feminist".

And although they sum up the album's wishy-washy production, Out is Through and Excuses show she can still write hooks strong enough to keep her man from fleeing when the PMT hits.

But a quick glance at the liner notes reveals a paint-by-numbers way with words - virtually all the songs start the same way, preferably with "I": "I want", "I'll be", "I am". Repeat breathlessly and serve.

It's downhill from there. The title track is indeed chaotic, a messy fusion of musical ideas. On the uncharacteristically plaintive This Grudge her voice strains for effect, her intentions strangled by a verbose grandeur.

Try singing along to, "I'll be the prettiest appendage to ever lose herself." By the time she gets to the awful gobbledegook of Doth I Protest Too Much and Knees of My Bees she has well and truly managed that.

(Maverick)