One of the finest independent singer-songwriter outings since Peter Case’s Flying Saucer Blues, Paul Brill’s New Pagan Love Songs brings to mind the well-crafted songs of Ron Sexsmith, the geek-in-love world of Marshall Crenshaw and, occasionally, Elvis Costello and the simple, wide-eyed awe of teenage lust. Breezy, wonder-fill tracks such as “Weekday Bender” and the opening “Trindade” contrast just fine with darker, more desperate (but nevertheless delightful) pieces such as “Lay Down Your Weary Head,” the acid-drenched “Indian Summer” and the Michael Stipe-on-peyote of “Daylight Scars.” But no matter how good this record is, no matter how convincingly Brill makes his case, we all know that there’s no real future in this singer-songwriter racket, especially not in an age when both have been made virtually obsolete by overexposed bellybuttons and “sexy” hairstyles. Then again, it only takes one guy, someone as good as Paul Brill, to sway the scales in the other direction. Here’s hoping. – Jedd Beaudoin