Ben Kweller album review

Here is a review I did for the new Ben Kweller album for Drum Media. I was also meant to interview him but it fell through:
BEN KWELLER
Ben Kweller
Sony/BMG

He may still look about 14, but the cherub-faced lynchpin of the NYC anti-folk scene has grown up.

Ben Kweller may seem like a painfully uninspired title for his third long-player as a solo artist, until one realises that the Texan-born troubadour plays absolutely everything on the album. This, more so than his previous releases, is a personal and autobiographical project.

This album marks a departure in style for Kweller. His trademark sugary sweet vocal remains [and yes, it still prompts the desire to ruffle his mop of hair even though he is now 25], while catchy Beatles-esque choruses are scattered sporadically, but overall Ben Kweller is a more introspective offering. He is now a father, and this album reflects his maturity, as the previously favoured grungy, distorted power-pop has been edged out in favour of layered harmonies and lavish balladry.

Standout moments include the brazenly grand Penny On The Train Track, rocky album-closer This Is War and tender piano ballad Thirteen that, as if to prove a point about his new approach, is completely sans chorus. Disappointingly though, a number of the tracks sound indistinguishable from each other, as though, in focusing so hard on the production, Kweller has lost something of his offbeat charm. It feels almost too measured.

In maturing musically, Kweller has also perhaps diminished the kookiness that was so appealing about him, but while Ben Kweller doesn’t represent his best work, there are still plenty of moments of honesty and beauty to admire.