SHAWN MENDES
Shawn Mendes (Virgin EMI)
The month of May is turning into a banner one for album releases from young, good-looking, sensitive singer-songwriters blessed with awesome falsettos. First came Charlie Puth and now comes his tour mate Shawn Mendes.
Mendes’ self-titled third album follows the successes of Handwritten and Illuminate, which both topped the Billboard 200 albums chart. The new one should do that as well, with ease. He deserves it.
Like Puth, Mendes has a knack for pop hooks, but Shawn Mendes has a quieter, funkier, and more soulful vibe. On the sensitive scale, Mendes might actually beat Puth: The 19-year-old is more introspective, fragile, and yearning here than the more cocky Puth’s first-rate Voicenotes.
The album opens unconventionally for a pop collection with Mendes fighting depression in the Kings of Leon-sounding rocker “In My Blood” (”Laying on the bathroom floor/Feeling nothing/I’m overwhelmed and insecure”).
Mendes gets in a welcome R&B groove for the lovely, aching “Lost in Japan” and goes on to admit self-consciousness in “Nervous” and vulnerability in “Where Were You in the Morning?” The quirky song “Particular Taste” shows a Mendes ready to experiment with song form — and romantic partners.
He’s unsure of a lover’s commitment on “Mutual” and asks “Why can’t we just get over ourselves?” in the spare “Why.” It might be wise not to irk Mendes, since you might be on the receiving end of a spikey song like “Queen.”
Mendes gets songwriting help from frequent collaborators Teddy Geiger, Scott Harris, and Geoff Warburton, and perhaps their best song together is the aching “Because I Had You.”
If “Fallin’ All In You” sounds very much like an Ed Sheeran jam that’s because Mendes co-wrote it with Sheeran and Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol. The ballad even has Sheeran’s distinct cadences, but yet, stubbornly, doesn’t really stand out. Two duets — one with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and the other with Julia Michaels — also underwhelm, especially with such strong writers aboard.
That’s certainly not the case when Mendes teams up with Khalid on “Youth,” a stunningly beautiful union of two of the most exciting millennial voices pushing back against the old order, singing “You can’t take my youth away/This soul of mine will never break.”
It’s a song as timely as you can get and a defiant step out of Mendes’ fragile world. But he quickly jumps back into it. It’s a world you’ll enjoy spending time in too.
— MARK KENNEDY, Associated Press
LOVE IS DEAD
Chvrches (Glassnote)
Chvrches aren’t subtle about their feelings on their third album, Love Is Dead.
However, the Scottish trio, who now call Brooklyn home base, remain optimistic, both with their upbeat synth riffs and danceable rhythms.
“We’re looking for angels in the darkest of skies,” Lauren Mayberry sings in a plaintive voice on “Miracle,” before the big EDM drop plunges the dramatic single into more darkness. On the opposite side, the bouncy chorus of the super-poppy “Get Out” is balanced by the cutting declaration, “Good intention’s never good enough.”
It’s a tough tightrope to walk, but Chvrches’ darker impulses are brightened by producer Greg Kurstin, best known for his work with Adele and Kelly Clarkson, and his ability to find the hook in even the most complicated of arrangements. “My Enemy,” with its gloomy synths from Iain Cook and Martin Doherty and moody vocals from the National’s Matt Berninger, remains poppy because of the sweetness of the melody.
All that craftsmanship should make Chvrches a staple on alternative rock radio, with a chance at a pop crossover on several tracks, but they manage it on their own terms.
— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday
IN TERMS OF ...
Joe Mazzaferro (Joe Mazz Music)
A little bebop, a little swing, and a lot of tenderness, heart, and passion come together on this intriguing debut release by Sacramento-raised jazz trumpeter, composer, educator, and arranger Joe Mazzaferro. In Terms Of ... is a nine-track disc that offers some solid arrangements, lots of originality, and strong soloing.
In addition to Mazzaferro alternating between trumpet and flugelhorn, special guest Jeff Clayton shines under the limelight on saxophone, and there are a few impressive solos on piano by another special guest, former Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers pianist Donald Brown, as well as a few memorable drum solos.
Mazzaferro, who earned a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, used to do arrangements for that school’s jazz ensemble and was challenged by Clayton to do a CD. The sound on this disc is augmented by trombone and French horn on a couple of pieces.
Mazzaferro, who became coordinator of jazz studies at Calfiornia State University Stanislaus in 2012, has performed in years past with other jazz greats, such as Dave Brubeck and Christian McBride.
— TOM HENRY, The Blade
First Published May 31, 2018, 12:45 a.m.
