With the name of a legend and the looks of a fresh-faced James Blunt, English singer-songwriter James Morrison rises to the challenge on his debut album, Undiscovered.
Morrison, from Rugby, England, is hardly the run-of-the-mill Brit rocker. Raised on a wholesome diet of equal parts Al Green, Otis Redding and the Kinks, his own music blends a little bit of ’60s soul with the fresh, youthful edge of popular guy-with-a-guitar John Mayer and the pleasant pitch of Gavin DeGraw on the album.
While the material is not quite up to the soul-bearing level of Redding and company just yet, from beginning to end of the 13-track disc, the 22-year-old shows that, with time and a little more life experience, he has the potential to fit those shoes.
In each blues-infused track, the artist delivers lyrics listeners can easily relate to, giving hope to those feeling stuck in a massive case of the Mondays, helping to deal with that messy break-up and giving a glimmer of optimism to the hopeless.
Morrison eases into things on the first single off of Undiscovered, “You Give Me Something,†an ode to that special someone he wants to play a bigger part in his life. The track does little to set itself apart as an album standout, but its subtlety is its strong suit. Morrison softly croons over a lightly bouncing backdrop and casts listeners into a soothing trance.
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