PASSIONS' Eric Martsolf (Ethan) goes back to his roots on a self-tilted contemporary pop/rock album.

"It has a bit of an '80s element to it," Martsolf explains. "It's funny, because you're hearing that all over the radio right now with bands like The Killers. I'm an adolescent from the '80s and was in an '80s cover band for years, so I had to throw some of that into my album."

He also had to throw a bit of Harmony in there. "I had the fans in mind when I chose these [original] songs," Martsolf explains. "One is called 'Liar' and it's so Gwen yelling at Theresa. It's hilarious. Another one is 'Hold on to Me,' which is Ethan and Theresa's song and might be appearing in a montage coming up. We had fun making the album. It's not deep or serious."

And it's not...er, fake. "No computers, sequencing or sampling. It's not over-processed," he promises. "The problem with a lot of music now is that it shoots right out of a computer. With ProTools and computer instrumentation, anybody can have a CD and make themselves sound good. This is just a bunch of talented musicians in the studio, from instrument to amp to tape, and I'm proud of that."

Proud enough to put his name on it! But that doesn't mean he won't share the credit. "The producer of the album, Dito Godwin, produced No Doubt's first album when they were a raw, cool new ska band. He's great. I was also lucky to have many talented writers come my way and offer me original tunes," Martsolf raves. "Marcus Brown, who plays keyboard on the CD and is Madonna and Ozzy Osbourne's road keyboardist, brought a whole new flair. I didn't intend the album to be keyboard- and synthesizer-heavy, but he came in and blew me out of the water. We clicked right away."

The result is on sale now. "I am so freaking ready for this it's ridiculous," Martsolf says of the June 5 release. "The guys in the studio were poking fun at me, saying, 'Rick Springfield, look out!' and 'Eric's the Rick of the new millennium.' Hey man, Rick did fine blending his soap career [as GENERAL HOSPITAL's Noah] with his music. If I'm that fortunate, that would be great!"

Martsolf's five-song CD is available for at myspace.com/ericmartsolfmusic, as well as from iTunes. Soon it will be available for download via all the digital sites, including Napster and Rhapsody.