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** Delerium

POEM

(Nettwerk)

Bill Leeb, this time without his long-time partner Rhys Fulber, has come up with yet another Delerium CD, almost four years after Karma — with fellow Vancouverite Sarah McLachlan guest-singing — caught the attention of Europop and dance-music adepts. This time there are no surprises (unless the non-appearance of McLachlan counts). The same Celtic melody and instrumentation, Deep Forest Africana, Indian tabla, Enigma-isms, and long passages of Dead Can Dance’s signature stylings that were Karma’s basis take center stage, ensuring that the CD’s 11 tracks all alight on familiar dream-dance territory. If, in a DJ mode, you must use this CD (as part of a set replete with Gregorian chanting, darkside rock, and French variété, perhaps), then “Aria,” “Fallen Icons,” “Underwater,” and “Temptation” will work. But Dead Can Dance, Enigma, Beth Orton, and — above all — France’s Mylene Farmer have done every inch of it much more profoundly.

— Michael Freedberg