Blackberry Belle (2003)

Sounding nearly as scary as that fume-sucking dude in ''Blue Velvet,'' Greg Dulli opens belle with a leering directive to ''Black out the windows/It's party time.'' For this second Singers session, the former frontman of the Afghan Whigs reimagines Sinatra's ''In the Wee Small Hours'' as a drive down a dark, snaky alt-rock highway with a gutful of vodka tonics, no headlights, and a minor riding shotgun. It turns a beguiling side project into a band you hope will stick around. MONIKER OF THE MONTH Could Dulli actually be the first decadent rocker to invoke ''the savior of misbehavior''? If so, bravo.