Indelible Mark.

Former American Music Club singer Mark Eitzel turns down the darkness on his second solo CD, with catchy songs about sex, drugs, and relationships

No comment" is the last thing anyone familiar with Mark Eitzel's songs would ever expect him to say. As a solo artist and as the former front man for underground faves American Music Club, Eitzel is best known for his soul-searching, confessional lyrics. So when he hesitates to discuss the significance of his new CD's title--The Invisible Man--it's a bit of a surprise. "I'm going to leave that up to your interpretation, actually," Eitzel says.

It's hard to believe that Mark Eitzel would pass up an opportunity to share what's on his mind. But he hasn't always been as forthcoming as his lyrics suggest. For years the now openly gay singer refrained from coming out.

"The truth was, with American Music Club, I didn't want to come out because I really didn't have anything to say," he explains. "And when you write a love song and you're gay, it's a political song, no matter what."

He gives an example of a strong reaction he received years ago to a song that eventually landed on his new CD. "The first time I did `Steve I Always Knew' was in Columbus, Ohio," he recalls. "After I finished the song, no one clapped. It was wild."

It took some time before reactions like that stopped affecting him. "It's only in the last couple of years that I can write songs about being gay and integrate them into my own songwriting and not feel undermined by other people's judgments" Eitzel says. He looks back to a period in the late '80s and early '90s when he lost a close friend, for whom he was the primary caregiver, to AIDS. His parents also died during this time. It was at this point in his life that Eitzel began addressing his sexuality in his music.

"I didn't want to force myself to be superficial just to please someone else. I didn't want to be judged in any way," he says of the personal and painful subject matter he began allowing himself to work into his lyrics. Eitzel's last album, 1998's Caught in a Trap and I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby, housed some of the most intense emotional disclosures he'd ever penned--a catharsis of that earlier, trying time. With The Invisible Man, he was intent on distancing himself as much as possible from the darkness of his past. "In a way this record is a reaction to that one," Eitzel says, comparing the two CDs.

Some of the character studies on The Invisible Man aren't exactly drenched in sunshine, though. For instance, "Steve I Always Knew" is about a "combination of good sex and bad drugs," Eitzel says. The music, however, displays Eitzel's melodic skills and is decidedly upbeat.

As for the title of the collection, he dodges the question again, but when asked if it refers to himself, or to an absent mate, the single Eitzel discloses he's looking for a partner. "I'm encouraging all letters. I'm encouraging all comers," he says, then laughs. "So to speak."

Find more about Mark Eitzel, The Invisible Man, American Music Club--and links to related Internet sites--at www.advocate.com

Gdula is a freelance writer who has written for The Washington Post.