Brett Dennen- Hope For The Hopeless
3/10

I think someone forgot to tell Brett Dennen that on his third album he should expand on the standard singer song-writer thing. The San Francisco musician is famous for his work with non-profit organisation The Mosaic Project, helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds fight for a better future. His music is meant to reflect their struggle and to some extent it does. Unfortunately it’s done in a way that is unattractive to alternative music listeners, leaning more towards the easy listening market. At times Dennen’s lyrics are touching, but oh so often he sounds like an impoverished Rob Thomas or John Mayer with a social conscious. ‘Make You Crazy’ featuring African legend Femi Kuti starts of with a soft rock vibe and an attempt to incorporate world music rhythms towards the end, leads to it sounding like a track from Carlos Santana’s The Game Of Love. A large majority of the other tracks start off by hitting your political conscious, but thanks to repetitive instrumentation they quickly become boring and you lose interest. For Dennen to expand his appeal and become more accessible to a wider audience, it would be good advice to team up with the likes of Kuti on a more regular basis.
Nick

 

Posted by Nick Fulton under Album, Reviews
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