Cover Your Eyes, the sophomore release from Tooth & Nail Records' Sullivan, can be summarized with two letters, "Eh." The album has its strong moments but overall offers nothing terribly impressive, and wears a bit thin pretty quickly. The smart creativity from Hey, I'm A Ghost seems limited and dulled this time around in what is either a compromising effort for greater radio appeal, or just a lack of progress in songwriting.

Album highlights like "F-stop," "Great for my Collection," and "The Process" are upbeat indie rock tunes with passionate guitars, entertaining vocals, and simple beats that could indeed make competitive radio singles. "Goodbye Miss Havisham" is also one of the more creative and enjoyable offerings, and "Fire Away" is a decent slower song, despite ending too abruptly for a closer.

But the short length of the album doesn't leave any room for the weaknesses that exist on Cover Your Eyes. "Dig Me Up" and "Israel Hands" both have catchy choruses but are noticeably boring and repetitious (specifically the drums). An obvious failed attempt at whatever was striven for, "Florida Queen" is annoying in pretty much every way (the rhythm, melody, guitars, vocals, and repetition).

The lyrics that are sung so meaningfully are disappointingly hard to decipher in many of the songs. However, some wise lessons can still be found, like the one in the chorus of "Israel Hands," "I've been on a ship destined for greater things than these. I've been all around, so take me home."

Sullivan's effort Cover Your Eyes is essentially enjoyable for a while, but it's not a record to remember, and if anything, it's a step backward from the band's debut.

- Review date: 6/4/07, written by Tim Harro