When first heard from, Cynthia Dall was taking flight as a solo artist (after a brief, but incendiary star turn in Smog), willfully insisting on releasing her first LP as a completely untitled record. With but a few whispered rumors accompanying it (along with a sticker featuring her name), Untitled captured the world"s imagination quite nicely. The appeal? Probably Cindy"s unconventional approach to song composition, her distinctive sirenesque vocal style and, in general, the nerve-rending energy with which the entire record was suffused. Listening to Cynthia Dall"s Untitled, one could easily be convinced as to the positive (and beautiful) aspects of catharsis. As well as the dark and expressive ends for pop music. Sound Restores Young Men, Cynthia"s sophomore effort, features other songs, other sounds and other catharses, as well as another high-voltage dose of heavy nerves. What we have is another beautiful record, a second LP from the young talent who has learned to call herself Cynthia Dall. Sound Restores Young Men serves twelve new slices of Cynthia Dall for fans, friends and fiends alike to sample. The songs of Sound Restores Young Men are intimate gestures, drawing the listener ever closer in the search for Cynthia Dall. The thrumming and chiming of electric guitars is the heartbeat of this record (as played by Cynthia and her little brother Aaron Dall), with other textures insinuating themselves over time. Pianos come and go. Distortion and reverb gather like clouds, then disperse as emotions that blew in then blow away. Mostly there"s space, lots of space around the space from which Ms. Dall is emoting. Musically, Sound Restores Young Men is pretty and poppy, melodic and occasionally frightening as well as a little bit more rock-integrated than the startling Dall debut. But then there are moments of stellar chamber beauty, such as the "The Party." And then there are the moments of completely sinister, drum-machine-fueled intensity within the album"s closer, "Snakeblood and Vodka." Sound Restores Young Men twists and turns, offering a wild portrait of the young artist named Cynthia Dall. Sound Restores Young Men - and women, too, we hope. Welcome back, Cynthia.