Sweden's John Alexander Ericson looks like he could be in Savage Garden, but if his brand of moody pop has any Aussie lineage, it comes from arch gloom-poppers The Church. For his solo debut, Ericson, erstwhile singer and songwriter for The Northern Territories, cuts enormous swathes of icy, string-leaden atmospherics and whittles them down into a dozen brooding pop numbers. Ericson sings like a Scandinavian Thom Yorke -- his fragile, quavering voice is usually light and mellifluous, but capable of swelling mightily when a little extra drama and oomph are required, which is often.

"Vampires in Searchlights" is a near-perfect exercise in acoustic pop despondency, with a "motherless we all are" lyric; the piano-kissed "Microman" stretches out into an instrumental piece worthy of a tragic art-house clip; "A World You'll Never Reach" is the stirring show-stopper, complete with multi-tracked Ericsons and a backing kids' choir.

Pity Mr. Yorke: if he'd ever entertained notions of pulling an Ashcroft, splitting with Radiohead and going solo with a big-screen vocal pop record, Songs for Quiet Souls dashes 'em. Seems someone's beaten him to it.