Sweeping eggshells still at 3 AM

I've focused on fun uptempo songs (normally my true love) for the past few days, so please forgive me as I temporarily detour into music that's far from poppy and far from uptempo: Josh Groban's latest album, Awake. It's too early for me to judge the album as a whole (it was just released this past Tuesday), so this will only be a couple of songs that have jumped out at me. Josh's songs don't ever seem to be about hooks, or fun, so it may be somewhat surprising that I like them. I think the key with him may be acknowledging that a good portion of his songs is about atmosphere. There's also something about his voice--how you rise and fall with it--and the instrumentation of his songs that allows him to get away with could-be-trite lyrics like those of "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)." It also feels like there's a hint of mystery underlying many of his songs. You could argue that the purpose of his music--which appropriates some elements of classical music and some elements of pop--is to shamelessly exploit a certain demographic, and I don't tend to listen to all the songs on his albums (I still haven't really gotten around to listening to Closer), but when he (or his producers) gets it right, he can do some really great songs.

Now Or Never--this is the song that's jumped out at me the most (though admittedly I haven't listened to most of the non-English tracks yet). As I mentioned before, I feel like many of Josh's song have an aura of mystery, and sometimes a surprising darkness, about them--this is one of those. Easily the best part of this song occurs about two-thirds in, where Josh sings "now or never" and a series of Joshes answer back in round, overlapping and harmonizing--it's just gorgeous; even if the rest of the song wasn't that good (and it is good), it would be worth listening through to get to that part.

Awake--I almost posted album opener "Mai," a strong, dramatic track, instead, but a few factors swayed me to include this song instead. One is that the normal physical album doesn't actually include it, and some Internet download sites don't even have it, which I think is a shame. More importantly, though, I wanted a slightly more minimal, less effects-driven song. The huge drama of some songs Josh does works really well, but I also wanted to show that, even with the focus very much on his voice in a comparatively simpler song, his music can still work. Of course, an album full of songs like this might get dull, but, used in the proper proportion, they help ground Josh's music, providing the sweet but solid base for songs like "Now Or Never" or "Mai" to contrast with. "Now Or Never" is probably the stronger song, but if you just want something soothing, "Awake" is more up your alley.

To buy Josh Groban's third album, Awake (the version with two bonus tracks, "Awake" and "Verita"), go here (physical) or here (digital). If you're just starting with him, though, I'd recommend getting his debut album, Josh Groban, first--you can buy it here (physical) or here (digital). The first song, "Alla Luce Dal Sole," is amazing.

Next up: I think "Mai" may make an appearance here at some point, but up next will probably be a very famous Puerto Rican singer.