Amy Correia

Carnival Love

Capitol

C-

“”Carnival Love”” sounds a little like one of Lilith Fair’s smaller stage acts revisited. Amy Correia’s poetic, fresh lyrics are perhaps the only saving grace in this selection of otherwise static boardwalk songs.

She establishes a somber carnival atmosphere on the opening track, “”Angels Collide.”” Hawaiian guitars and Correia’s half-sober voice provide a folksy feel to many of the tracks, especially “”He Drives It,”” a humorous take on unrequited love. A couple of exceptions — the more upbeat “”Daydream Car”” and “”The Bike”” — flirt with pop potential. Otherwise, the album rarely rises above the tone of a slightly flustered little girl.

— Charlene Perez

The Wallflowers

(Breach)

Interscope

B+

The Wallflowers are back into their comfortable, sulky rock style. As the follow-up to 1996’s “”Bringing Down the Horse,”” the new album stays true to the mellow movement that made the band famous; there are no new tricks.

In Wallflower fashion, laid-back guitars play second string to Jakob Dylan’s soft voice, and the band’s good-tempered alternative sound plays second string to Dylan’s somber lyrics. In “”Hand Me Down,”” Dylan sounds like the frustrated son of a demanding father — almost certainly a song directed at his real-life, rock icon father. “”I’ve Been Delivered”” offers the album’s first sign of optimism, even though a majority of its lyrics play to a dark atmosphere.

Dylan humbly sings his dreary lyrics over a backdrop of sympathetic guitars throughout the album, but, in its own bleak way, his musical expression is resolved and satisfying.

— Charlene Perez