"Central Reservation" is a decidedly grown-up pleasure and Orton is an artist who succeeds splendidly on her own modest terms.

Oh, there are moments of pure wonder, to be sure, but they're sandwiched between tracks that either retread old ideas or execute less impressive new ones.

The lushness of 1992's "Love Deluxe" has given way to an understatement so pronounced it's almost jarring; this LP sounds like it was recorded in zero gravity.

When you string them all together and play them to the bleachers, "Cups" and "Push Upstairs" and "Shudder/King of Snake" sound remarkably interchangeable.

In the year between its European and its and U.S. releases, "Movement" lost four tracks and gained four others, but these dubious "improvements" turned the disc from a decent dance-pop LP to a blatant, though scattered, crossover bid.

Much of the music's electronic undertow has receded, leaving Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen's airy melodies and counter-melodies stranded in gassy lounge-pop compositions that sound merely retro instead of retro-futuristic.

It's as if there's an optimal number of musical ideas per song, and the album falls apart when the number spikes too high - or dips too low.

What once sounded like a compelling dance-pop concept now seems genial, verging on retro.

Unfortunately, the melodic acumen Merritt displayed on last year's Magnetic Fields opus, "69 Love Songs," is largely AWOL on "I'm Lonely and I Love It."