Benny Sings’ Music

Music, the second Benny Sings album released through Stones Throw Records, and Tim Van Berkestijn’s eighth overall, is a pleasant, if largely forgettable, collection of songs that draw on the soulful and subdued sounds of the 1970s. Enlisting a suite of collaborators—from London guitarist Tom Misch on the excellent yacht rock of “Nobody’s Fault” to Emily King and Peter CottonTale on the gospel-tinged “Miracles”—the Dutch singer-songwriter’s evocative tenor cajoles the listener into sun-kissed sonic bliss over a familiar formula of plodding stacco piano and warm basslines. While simpler arrangements highlight the stylistic breadth of tracks like the breezy “Sunny Afternoon” or the bouncy, saxophone solo featuring “Run Right Back,” one cannot help feeling as if the strong songwriting Berkestijn displayed on 2019’s City Pop has been dispatched in favor of the lesser perks of becoming a musical wallflower amongst the varied arrangements and new guests. “Music help me through this/I can't do this all on my own, ” he sings on the album’s horn-buoyed title track, seemingly acknowledging this predicament. Limitations aside, Music provides another fitting canvas for Berkestijn’s charms, even if they are not present in full force on this outing.

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If you like Music, check out:

• Minute by Minute by The Doobie Brothers

• It Is What It Is by Thundercat

• Seafaring Strangers: Private Yacht by Various Artists, from The Numero Group

• Mr. Finish Line by Vulfpeck

• AM Waves by Young Gun Silver Fox