Moist, a Canadian quintet in which all five members -- David Usher (vocals), Paul Wilcox (drums), Jeff Pearce (bass), Kevin Young (keyboards) and Mark Makoway (guitar) -- contribute songs, follow up their quadruple-platinum debut Silver with Creature.

Too many cooks in this case makes for pretty bland and tasteless broth, as there's almost nothing that stands out as tasty: "Leave It Alone" suggests Crash Test Dummies meets Talking Heads (but with a good singer, at least), and on others the prevailing mood is as plaintive and bleeding as Morrissey.

"Tangerine" sounds like it's meant to be important, yet it's hard to tell why.

"Better Than You," the best thing in the set, catches lightning in the bottle of mainstream, heartland rock, and there's some cool, creepy voodoo in the promising title "Baby Skin Tattoo." The problem doesn't seem to be the musicianship of the band, but the songs they're playing.

Creature is the usual "disaffected and wounded yet yearning for a connection" underground youthful pop stuff -- heartfelt, perhaps, but not terribly original either.