What happens to musicians when they grow old and are dumped by their record label? Usually, they first turn to the Internet to sell their music, and when they fail to get the royalties that they're used to from there, they release a new studio album on a small, indie label, hoping to get back in touch with their roots. Jon Crosby, the sole member of Vast, has just completed this process, and "Nude" is the end result of his four years in the musical wilderness.

Being only familiar with Vast's 1999 breakthrough "Visual Audio Sensory Theater", I was surprised at how comfortable and familiar this album sounded. Lots of uniquely Crosbyian flourishes are still intact, like his penchant for including lots of echoing choirs and Gregorian chants in his songs. What's gone though, is the industrial touches and flourishes that lifted his previous work from being generic goth-grunge, and made him stand out from the rest. It's interesting to note that the few songs on this album that do have those brutal mechanical aspects to them tend to be the best ones.

Take Turquoise for instance, a powerful track that straddles being pure industrial and more accessible rock, and which features a grinding chorus. Don't Take Your Love Away From Me is an immaculately constructed ballad that makes full use of orchestral arrangements and a very strong vocal performance. Lost, on the other hand, is a dark and gloomy piece that recreates some of the better moments from the debut album.

Unfortunately, given the amount of time that Crosby has had to work with some of the songs, many of them are droll and uninspiring. Thrown Away is one of a multitude of tracks that just sound like Bono from U2 fronting a second-rate goth band, and Desert Garden is built around an interesting idea, but it's actual execution is an leaves quite a bit to be desired. Another disappointment for me is the fact that these songs seem to be aimed at a different audience than before, and the eerily scary and creepy nature of some of the songs (like Pretty When You Cry) seems to have been given the flick, in favour of songs more palatable for mainstream radio airtime.

Still, it's good to know that Crosby is still kicking about, and that he can still write the occasional good song. If he's going to make another album, he'd to well to stay on the track that he's on here, and just concentrate on making his songs more consistent. And also on sounding less like U2.