Music

It's hard enough being really good at one thing. But Sorta is one of those bands that tries out seven or eight different styles and, lo and behold, they all fit perfectly.

The Dallas group's third CD, Strange and Sad But True, still has lots of twang left over from its early days playing at the Barley House: The chiming "Party's Over" could pass for an outtake from the Eagles' Desperado.

But Sorta isn't a country band as much as a band that uses country as a springboard into a deeper pool of influences. One second, it's strolling through a reggae-pop gem such as "Pink and Baby Blue;" the next, it's cranking out power chords in a song tailor-made for modern-rock radio ("Lazybones"). Trying to peg Sorta is like trying to classify the Beatles' "White Album."

Tying all the styles together is singer Trey Johnson's warm tenor and soaring melodies. He's obviously listened to his share of Lennon-McCartney, but the other Sorta members balance his pop instincts with bold, experimental sounds.

"Buttercup" opens the CD on a surreal blues note, as martial drums melt into dark, trippy keyboards you'd expect to hear on an old Pink Floyd album. The trip gets lighter on "Water Music," with its sunny, psychedelic vibe and playful lyrics: "I listened to the sound of rocks the size of oranges rolling on the ocean floor."

But the mood doesn't stay light for long. By the song's end, a corpse is being dragged out of the sea.

It's not the only song by Mr. Johnson that ends in a body bag. "85 Feet and Falling" tells the true-life mystery of a Dallas man who threw his girlfriend off a Bush Turnpike overpass and then jumped to his own death.

Yet as bleak as the lyrics are, "85 Feet" is a deceptively jaunty sing-along, fueled by Ward Williams' breezy pedal steel and Carter Albrecht's lovely keyboard work. Strange and Sad But True might be full of grim tales, but musically, Sorta always knows how to put a smile on your face.

E-mail tchristensen@dallasnews.com

B+

Strange and Sad But True

(Independent release)

Sorta performs Aug. 18 at the Allgood Café and Aug. 25 at the Granada Theater.