In Brief

* * 1/2 10,000 Maniacs, “Our Time in Eden,” Elektra. The big, moody material Natalie Merchant cloaks herself in showcases her emotive voice well but often seems shapeless. The best songs have enough musical personality to overshadow Merchant’s doggedly determined meaning-of-life lyrics: “Noah’s Dove,” which sounds like something out of “Dr. Zhivago,” and the horn-gilded “Far and Few Between” and “Candy Everybody Wants.”