Sweet Right Here

CD

The "Sisters K" return from the near dead with a bouncy album that in some ways suggests the early work of another musical sister, Shania Twain. Both acts offer a youthful pop sound that occasionally mimics hoedown music in the most superficial way, and both depend on layered production. Here, the Osborn siblings work from an inventive harmony base whipped into a frenzied swirl of sound by über-producer Dann Huff. Both acts also craft lyrics that can be astonishingly empty and insipid, but on Sweet Down Here, Kristyn Osborn and her various co-writers sink to new depths of banality. As a lyricist, Kristyn is at her intelligent best when she settles into brokenhearted love ballads such as "Without a Sound" and "Come Home Soon." Otherwise, she spends her time on "Passenger Seat" chewing on a Slim Jim and waiting for that first kiss (what, no garlic breath?); on "360˚ of You" she strikes a Lolita pose ("nibblin' my thumb 'cause I want me some"). She dots the rest of the album with references to plopping down on wet toilet seats and nailing her man ("you're a pesky little fly, I'm the pink plastic swatter"). They sure ain't the Dixie Chicks, but country music, that working-class genre, is nothing if not an equal-opportunity employer. --Alanna Nash