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Because of singer Martin Rossiter, Gene’s anthems for doomful youths are most often compared to those of Morrissey and the Smiths. But while Mozzer and Rozzer share similar vocal and lyrical traits, Morrissey has never been backed by a band that can rock as hard as Gene. Steve Mason’s six-strings wail and moan as much in the manner of Mick Ronson’s as Johnny Marr’s, though like Marr of Moz’s, Mason is a generous interpreter of Rossiter’s woes. On Gene’s second album, Mason’s power-chord cadences beat alongside Rossiter’s comely calls to carnality in “Fighting Fit” (“Come and take every single bone/I will give as good as I get”) and his doo-wopish picking sways with the crooner’s pleas on “Speak to Me Someone” (“Smash into me someone and hold me”). Yet, for all Mason’s style, it’s usually the singer in pop bands who attracts the masses, and Rossiter entices on two levels: He’s debonairly handsome, with his dark suits and delicately gelled hair, and he openly sings of love, lust, and longing, the trio of L’s that are too-often relegated to the teen age, but that are, of course, universal to all but the most cynical. Rossiter wears his heart on his sleeve, but with reason; as the song “Long Sleeves for the Summer” explains, the clinically depressed singer is prone to bouts of self-mutilation. But even if such lows are not in the listener’s experience, it’s still easy to be Drawn to the Deep End.Christopher Porter