Sam Bisbee has been dying to make a record...and it shows. After years of recording demos, he has managed to gather together some good friends and some even better songs. With a stellar singing voice and an agile mind for lyrics, Bisbee is trying to make a name for himself as an original songwriter with something to say.

The fourteen tracks on Vehicle yield hits and misses. Some of Bisbee's compositions come off as contrived and jejune -- but given time, he more than makes up for them. Similes and metaphors make up the majority of his lyrical purview; take the first track, "Miracle Car": "You're a slasher film you terrify/ you're a love story; you death-defy/ you're a shoot-em-up; you're a cold drive-by." Bisbee continues in this vein throughout the album, obsessing about his innocently seductive muse. The apotheosis of his infatuation comes in "Simplest of Pleasures", in which he longs, like many men before him, to be all the toiletries and objects used by the woman he loves: "if only I could die in the lubriderm bottle/for the day when you squeeze me out/ into the palm of your hand/ I will vanish in your endless skin."

Sandwiched in-between the lovesick tunes are more sophisticated, Dylan-esque messages about technology, the media and plain old social commentary, as witnessed in "Sex and Drugs O-Rama" and "Molecules". Bisbee's tirades ramble, but manage to remain true to pulsing music he has written around them.

Musically, Bisbee uses a standard guitar/bass/drums rock setup, flavored with mellotrons, wurlitzers, occasional cello and the lovely backing vocals of Leona Naess to round out the accompaniment. The listener is struck by how tastefully the music is played around Bisbee, giving him room to maneuver his lyrics. Afforded this celerity, Bisbee strides through the ballad "I Will Wait" without missing a step and turns in a fine performance on "Shake Me" to the bump and grind of a programmed drum-loop.

Although Bisbee has yet to reach the dizzying heights of a Paul Westerberg or Ryan Adams, his Vehicle is definitely headed in the right direction.