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We Say...
On his third album (including a hard-to-find, self-pressed debut), Brett Dennen sings 11 songs about love and theft: love for a person that doesn't quite turn out right and theft of basic rights over the last eight years. Even in the jubilant Afrobeat single "Make You Crazy" (featuring Femi Kuti) or the bouncy Grateful Dead groove of whimsical opener "San Francisco," Dennen carries a message of resistance against both the personal and political entanglements that keep people handcuffed from happiness. In the gracefully melodic "Heaven," he sings in his smooth, high-register of a place without "color lines or castes or classes"; on two love songs, including the melodically rich fever dream of "Wrong About Me," he manages to throw a long, timely elbow at the gut of Wall Street. His toolbox includes great command of similes and metaphor: the line "Like a drunk in a dive bar in the early afternoon," effortlessly enhances the mood of intimacy in "Closer to You." The album, more robust than 2006's So Much More, was produced by John Alagia, who has recorded John Mayer (for whom Dennen opened on tour last summer), Jason Mraz and Dave Matthews. It's pretty and it's mainstream, but Dennen occupies a meritorious kind of pop-rock middle, committing his songs not just to the girl of his dreams, but to the dashed dreams of the downtrodden.
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They Say...
A deliberately careful songwriter with an at times Dylanesque flair for unlikely rhymes (he matches "spokes" with "hoax," for instance, and mostly gets away with it), a certain Nick Drake-like fragility (due in large part to his voice, which is pitched high and sounds at times eerily like Billie Holiday), and a subtle African pop feel (he has Femi Kuti singing backing vocals on one of the songs here), Brett Dennen is certainly singular, and at his best, he catches a breezy, mellow groove that allows his thoughtful songs to truly shine. If there's a downside, it's that they all shine in almost exactly the same way, and over the course of an album, can start to feel like one big mellow song sung over and over again without a whole lot of variation. But when these songs work, they really work, and pieces like "Heaven," even though Dennen goes on about things like "the cloth of conviction," are strikingly effective. Other standouts on Hope for the Hopeless, his third album, include the Kuti track, "Make You Crazy" (which features Dennen's most perfectly soulful and spirited vocal yet), the easily likeable "World Keeps Turning," the impressive "Ain't Gonna Lose You" (where the spokes/hoax rhyme dwells), and the innocently positive and hopeful "Follow Your Heart," even though it sounds maybe too much like a second rewrite of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" at times. Nothing here is less than pleasant, but the lyrics do get a little on the overwrought and ornate side in songs like "So Far from Me," where crows ravage a field of wheat while scarecrows know their own defeat etc., and if Dylan can get away with stuff like that because he's, well, Dylan, Dennen makes it all sound just a little too delicate and labored. Still, Hope for the Hopeless works more than it doesn't, and when it really clicks here, which is often enough, Dennen shows himself to be a unique voice and talent.
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| 01. |  |
San Francisco |
3:50 |
|
| 02. | |
Make You Crazy |
3:36 |
|
| 03. | |
Heaven |
4:01 |
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| 04. | |
Closer To You |
3:36 |
|
| 05. | |
Wrong About Me |
4:30 |
|
| 06. | |
So Far From Me |
4:06 |
|
| 07. | |
When She's Gone |
3:38 |
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| 08. | |
World Keeps Turning |
2:59 |
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| 09. | |
Who Do You Think You Are? |
4:05 |
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| 10. | |
Follow Your Heart |
3:09 |
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| 11. | |
Ain't Gonna Lose You |
4:51 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 42:21 Total Length
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Credits
- Mark Goldenberg - Guitar // Ted Jensen - Mastering // Brian Scheuble - Engineer // Brian Scheuble - Mixing // Femi Kuti - Vocals (Background) // Femi Kuti - Vocals (Background) // John Alagía - Guitar // John Alagía - Piano // John Alagía - Vocals (Background) // John Alagía - Producer // John Alagía - Mixing // Sean Hurley - Bass // Josh Deutsch - A&R // Tom Freund - Vocals (Background) // Joey Waronker - Percussion // Joey Waronker - Drums // Wayne Brezinka - Art Direction // Wayne Brezinka - Design // Wayne Brezinka - Illustrations // Michael Howe - A&R // Zac Rae - Keyboards // Zac Rae - Ukulele // Missy Higgins - Vocals (Background) // Brett Dennen - Guitar // Brett Dennen - Vocals // Brian Conrad - Engineer
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