Confess feelings with local tunes

Heartache and longing by the dump truck full is what's in store for the latest roundup of Vegas music releases:

ELLIOT SZABO, "Between Two Points On A Map" (elliotszabo.com): He sings as if his heart has just been fed through a paper shredder.

"I'm a fatalist, you see," Elliot Szabo announces on "Window," a stark, obsidian ballad that sets a brooding tone for his latest release.

Despite the dark clouds that Szabo envisions above his head, his tunes still tend to have an invigorated feel to them, as they follow a similar, loose trajectory: They begin with a funky shuffle ("Georgia Beaches") or a touch of acoustic longing ("Majesty"), with Szabo's equally pliant and pleading voice eventually ratcheting itself into a full-bodied gutbucket howl as guitars crest in waves of dissonance ("Persian") or a stirring strum ("Crawling").

Szabo's confessional scab picking isn't always pretty, even if the opposite is true of the tunes that result from it all.

THE LAZY STARS, "Light of Day EP" (myspace.com/thelazystarspage): Dave Hawkins can stre-e-e-tch a vowel with the very best of 'em.

"All I want is you-u-u-u-u," The Lazy Stars frontman sings on "She Knows Everything," a tempestuous, symphonic-sounding torch song on which Hawkins gradually works himself into a lovelorn lather.

It's an equally sentimental and seductive tune, one directly reflective of this band's dusky, debonair repertoire: lots of texture, melodrama and skybound melodies.

The Lazy Stars songs are suggestive of late nights and star-crossed lovers, and their latest EP sees them further refining their craft, with the slashing, fuzzed out guitar wallop and soaring synth lines of "Light of Day" and the ruminative hip shake of "Pictures/Photographs."

At three songs, it's over before you know it -- kind of like some of the relationships about which Hawkins sings.

THEORY OF FLIGHT, "Within Reach" (theoryofflightmusic.com: Beau Hodges sings of being a small dude in a big city.

"I'm afraid this town has gotten me down," the Theory of Flight frontman confesses on an album opening "Sinister." "With my last breath, I'll finally make it out," he later adds, giving voice to a desperation that seldom manifests itself in his band's largely buoyant sound, which is powered by big, bright synth lines, breathy vocals and ringing guitars.

If this bunch is eager to escape Sin City, "Within Reach" might help them achieve that end, with huge sounding, radio-ready rockers such as "Worthless Symphonies," with its dramatic keys, growling guitars and rolling thunder drums, paired with the kind of starry-eyed ballads meant to soundtrack slow dances at proms the world over.

It has all been done before, for sure, but Theory of Flight isn't out to break the mold as much as break out of here.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.