COUNTRY

Carrie Underwood, "Play On" (Arista Nashville)

Compared to Taylor Swift's youthful glow, Underwood is stiffly mature. Last year, at 25, she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, less than three years after her "American Idol" win. But being the youngest old person in country music has freed Underwood from the burden of innovation.

From her 2005 debut album, "Some Hearts," to her 2007 follow-up, "Carnival Ride," and continuing right through "Play On," Underwood has honed a series of familiar poses -- faithful girlfriend, scorned girlfriend, all-American girlfriend -- each as technically well-executed as the last. She's a great model -- the best in all of country, and perhaps all of pop. Certainly that's made many of her songs, including several on "Play On," musically and emotionally complacent, testaments to the limitations of great structure. "Look at Me" smolders but never sizzles, and "Undo It" never fills in the gaps between bruising choruses.

On occasion, Underwood has unearthed an unanticipated brash attitude, but there's nothing here as saucy as "Last Name" or as vicious as "Before He Cheats." "Songs Like This," the only number here with even the suggestion of an arched eyebrow, feels comparatively denuded. "Cowboy Casanova" delivers, at best, a light sneer.

Worse, Underwood's dignity is skewing toward the righteous, as heard on a pair of dim message songs, "Temporary Home" and "Change." But as was true on "Idol," no amount of hackneyed songwriting can undermine Underwood's voice, which is consistently impressive. It enlivens plenty of moments here, even the conceptually dull "Mama's Song." And like all great singers, Underwood knows when to hold back. "Someday When I Stop Loving You" is the best song here, and one of Underwood's finest. It's slow and regretful and, most important, complicated.

JON CARAMANICA, NEW YORK TIMES

The Swell Season, "Strict Joy" (Anti-)

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, stars of that lovely Irish independent movie "Once," became a real couple for awhile. But aren't anymore. "Strict Joy" is their breakup album. And all of its folky, pop, slightly classical romantic anguish makes you rather glad that they did. Hansard's urgent, raw-nerve vocals still strut an effective pas de deux with Irglova's more ethereal, contemplative voice. The quietest tracks, "In These Arms" and "I Have Loved You Wrong," are the most beautifully devastating. But the whole package is a knife to the heart, making Hansard and Irglova the Richard and Linda Thompson of their generation when it comes to busted lovers who still make great musical partners. The Swell Season performs Dec. 5 at the State Theatre.

BOB STRAUSS, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS