Experienced producer and former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna's new solo release is anything but solitary. Recording under the alias tweaker, Vrenna is clearly the master of this album, but no fewer than a half dozen brilliant guest lend their talents to his already articulate instrumental "tweakings".

Most guest star-studded albums, obnoxiously appearing all too frequently these days, irresponsibly succumb to a concentration on individualized hits, eradicating any sense of the collective. But tweaker took a different approach for 2 a.m., setting up a theme and completing the music long before he allowed the vocalists a hand at the lyrics. The result is a unique soundscape, which deliberately and quite successfully embodies the essence of a fitful night without sleep.

The album is often agitating, as life can be when you consistently awake at two o'clock in the morning, without the power to return to slumber. Inspired by his wife's routine bouts of insomnia, Vrenna clearly demonstrates such frustration on songs such as "Truth Is", featuring the legendary voice of Robert Smith, and the instrumental "Remorseless". But he skillfully and immediately relieves this anxiety with the sexy swing of the next track, "Pure Genius".

This characteristic back-and-forth lends itself to a dynamic, yet tightly controlled, aesthetic. Spacey, spellbinding, sexy and sadistic, the album fills the listener with a complete wave of dusk- to-dawn emotion, from the anticipation of the early evening's revelry, up to and through the mysterious hours just before sunrise, which are tentatively ushered in with the apprehensive, airy whisper of Jennifer Charles.

Audiences are advised to listen to the album after dark, although Vrenna's dramatic flourishes are just as effective, maybe even more so, on a Sunday afternoon, when their contrasts are heightened by the light of the day. But regardless of when you put it on, be forewarned - 2 a.m.'s disturbances may just keep you up at night.

A. Koledin