IT TOOK A WHILE TO GET USED to the music in Rico Blanco?s debut solo album ?Your Universe? (Warner Music). It didn?t help that the first song, ?Say Forever,? starts with a distinct electronica sound, made even more disconcerting by Blanco slipping into a British accent (?I?m at the central stay-shun/Without a des-ti-nay-shan...?). It has everything that would make a non-fan change discs in the CD player.

And yet, this might the biggest mistake one can make. As soon as the strains of the title track begins, it?s easy to see why Blanco became the soul of Rivermaya in his last years with the band. In most of the love songs in this album, Blanco employs a distinct kind of songwriting that overhauls the formula with a different vocabulary and perspective.

The title track?s chorus is an expression of gratitude by a guy who wishes to let his girl see the other side of their relationship: ?You hold me like I?m the one who?s precious/... You can thank your stars all you want but/I?ll always be the lucky one.?

The jazzy ?Helpless? views the idea of love as losing control over one?s emotions and memory. ?Say Forever,? which deals with courtship, is different in the way it uses the metaphor of traveling with having nowhere to go. And while the reconciliatory song ?Start Again? might seem cliche, its angry tone allows it to diverge from the typical let?s-get-back-together tune.

Plenty of attitude
With a slow pop-rock vibe, a little electronica, and plenty of attitude, to say that these songs sound good is an understatement?even when they?re not necessarily about romance (?Metropolis,? ?Outta This?).

What works better than any of these songs are the album?s Tagalog tracks, in which Blanco demonstrates his songwriting chops, employing colloquial Filipino language without making it sound like run-of-the-mill folk music stuff.

Blanco sings about love in a light but witty tone. In ?Ayuz,? love is the one thing that makes the hassles of the day go away, while in ?Para Hindi Ka Mawala,? the acoustic music sounds like a modern harana. It is in ?Antukin,? though, in which Blanco shines best, lifting a catchy Pinoy proverb to apply to his own sentiments: ?Kapag gusto may paraan, kapag ayaw may dahilan.?

But it?s the rock epic ?Yugto? that serves as the album?s tour de force material?a rousing indictment of treachery and all things abominable in contemporary society which is interesting in its use of jungle creatures as metaphors.