Brett Dennen - Hope For The Hopeless - Music & Performance - CD

The follow-up to his Dualtone debut, SO MUCH MORE, positions him for stardom. Non-stop touring over the past three years with John Mayer, Colbie Calliat, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Sheryl Crow and Ziggy Marley has led to nationwide talk about Brett's unique sound and inspiring message. Rolling Stone hailed him as one of 2008's Artist to Watch.

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. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Performer	Brett Dennen
Music genre	Rock
Media format	CD
Original release date	2008
Language	English
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Track listing	San Francisco, Make You Crazy (Feat. Femi Kuti), Heaven, Closer to You, So Far from Me, When She's Gone, World Keeps Turning, Who Do You Think You Are?, Follow Your Heart, Ain't Gonna Lose You
Record label	Dualtone Music Group
Songwriter	Brett Dennen
Track name	San Francisco, Make You Crazy, Heaven, Closer to You, Wrong About Me, So Far from Me, When She's Gone, World Keeps Turning, Who Do You Think You Are?, Follow Your Heart, Closer To You, So Far From Me
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N