Mary Lou Lord

For now, though, she's just a hip, young folksinger in the grand old tradition of her buddy Beck, who turns some typical folky tricks on her self-titled debut minialbum. Of the eight tracks, seven are self-accompanied only by acoustic guitar , five are covers, and one is the sort of outsmarting tongue-in-cheek social commentary you'd expect to hear at coffeehouse open-mikes.

The funny one is called "His Indie World" and is Lord's explanation of why "I don't fit into this indie scene," complete with rhymes like: "Just give me my Joni, my Nick, Neil, and Bob/You can keep your Tsunami, your Slant 6 and Smog." It's better than most novelties, but ultimately just a novelty. The real centerpiece of the album is a full-band electric version of The Bevis Frond's "Lights Are Changing." A well-chosen cover given à la mode grunge guitar/modern rock treatment, the track relegates Lord to "vocals and air guitar" in front of a six-piece band and thus prepares her for the day she becomes the Belinda Carlisle of the 90s. --Roni Sarig