Viktor Krauss grew up loving film soundtracks, and writes on his Web site of letting the dreamy unfoldings of these wordless tunes dictate the course of his childhood play activities. Though he has made a name for himself primarily as bassist with Lyle Lovett's incredible band, and session man with players as variegated as Bill Frisell, Jerry Douglas, Elvis Costlello and Chet Atkins, Krauss is in fact an accomplished player on a variety of instruments. He's also an incredibly evocative songwriter, as "II," his aptly titled second solo effort, makes plain.

Krauss is one of those wonderful modern musicians loyal to no one particular camp and eager to draw from whatever musical pool he finds enticing. As a result, "II" is spacious, diverse, and not exactly earmarked for massive commercial success. That's a good thing, because "II" was created to appeal to listeners with minds as open as Krauss,' folks who might listen to, say, Pink Floyd, Ennio Morricone, Daniel Lanois, Jeff Beck and country music, throughout any one given day.

Not surprisingly, the music is "filmic," which is a slightly nebulous way of saying that it is groove-based, frugal in terms of harmonic information, and all about pacing, development and tonal color. "Pinky Ring," for example, struts along on a bass ostinato, atop which guitarist Dean Parks builds a two-part distorted guitar figure that is tensely melodic. Opener "Hop" builds ominously over the course of its eight minutes, as Krauss assembles an air-sculpture out of a Fender Rhodes, electric and acoustic basses, celeste and synthesizer, while guitarist Parks and drummer Matt Chamberlain introduce themes that swirl around each other and eventually construct an incongruous mood of soothing dread.

When Krauss does employ a singer, he does so with brilliant results, whether relying on the wordless emoting of Indian vocalist Shweta Jhaveri, the accusatory insinuations of Lyle Lovett, or the soothing coo of Shawn Colvin, who is wonderful during an inventive take on Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."  It's all beautifully mood-conjuring stuff, with vocals or without.