Looking for Something True
4 Out Of 5 Stars
The scout for Blue Note Records must have flipped out when he found Amos Lee
. "Oh my God," he likely squealed in delight. "I've found the male Norah Jones!" Which is pretty much a description of Lee's debut. It follows the blueprint for the ultra-successful Jones, to the point where she even sings on a couple of the songs here. While this is no dig on Lee's admittedly extraordinary talent, that shout serve as signpost to whether or not you'll be interested in listening to Lee's 2005 debut.Lee is a bluesy singer-songwriter, positioned somewhere between the confessionals of James Taylor and the soulfulness of Al Green. He also possesses an expressive, folkish voice that occasionally soars into a strong falsetto, and (like Jones) is a strong, emotive songwriter. On this debut, he glides on those strengths, which makes the album easy to digest but not needlessly forceful. That kind of music you hear in a Starbucks? Amos Lee delivers it in smokey quotients.
Just don't let the easy listening trappings fool you. Like Norah's "Come Away With Me," "Amos Lee" has a sophisticated underpinning that gets more noticeable on repeat listenings. In the years since, Lee has become a formidable blues singer/player. His 2011 "Mission Bell" has him maturing as a singer and letting some of the tougher aspects of his writing come to the surface. However, as an easy listening debut, "Amos Lee" makes for a solid introduction.
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