There's not a damned bit of difference between Re-Unmelt My Heart and the singles/rarities compilation I Love You And I Don't Want You To Die -- and in this case, that's good news. Following in the footsteps of Baby Bird, among others, Frankie Machine has fashioned his acoustic musings and character sketches into a uniquely modern-sounding format, complete with background slice-of-life samples and the most tasteful electronic flourishes you'll hear this side of...well, anybody, really.

In fact, Re-Unmelt My Heart is significantly more satisfying than Machine's earlier effort, if only because it sounds more cohesive: as the interlude "Freckles" develops, it seems to move from a noisy club to a quiet walk home in an acoustic rainfall, incorporating a beautiful organ line, then submerging beneath the squirky bassline and throaty porn-star-sample moans that open "Why Are You #2". It sounds like the successful ending of an evening on the town, and the song that follows (which, in its first verse, forms a neat comparison between the way a femme fatale dragged on her cigarette and the way she metaphorically immolated her lover) is perfectly sexy and rueful. Simply put, this is what Frankie Machine and company do, and they do it really, really well.

There are many beautiful little musical and lyrical moments on Re-Unmelt, including the titular concept itself. Given a moment's thought, it's a recursive gem: in order for this action to make sense, the singer's heart has to have been frozen (presumably by failure in love), melted by renewed ardor, re-frozen ("un-melted"), re-melted, and finally re-unmelted. That's about as neat a one-word metaphor for co-dependence and emotional pain as you'll ever hear. Then there are the opening lines of "Black Eyes #3": "Give me some words that I can use / to break the ice or destroy the mood / I need to be talking to you like he's talking / Between the wall and the cigarette machine / there's two scorch marks next to a pile of debris / that looks a lot like me / do you long for the fire so bright / that it can light up your black eyes tonight / I know where the fire ought to be / It ought to be inside of me." Sure, it's just a love song -- a truly excellent love song.

There are certainly reasons why you might not enjoy Re-Unmelt My Heart: a life-threatening aversion to acoustic guitars, for example, or simply an inability to appreciate a suite of songs that all play soft and slow. Everyone else, especially those of you who enjoy a well-turned phrase, should look into it.