Dave Barnes - Stories To Tell (2012)

Tracklist

01. White Flag
02. How Long
03. Mine to Love
04. Heaven Help Me
05. Love Will Be Enough for Us
06. Seventeen
07. Missing You
08. Find Your Way Home
09. Stories to Tell
10. Warm Heart in a Cold World
11. One of Us
12. Baby Needs New Shoes
13. White Flag (Radio Edit)

Having transitioned somewhat from the Christian pop of his early work on 2010's What We Want, What We Get, singer/songwriter Dave Barnes keeps the secular but still spiritual pop rolling on his bright and romantic 2012 effort, Stories to Tell. These are effervescent, unceasingly optimistic, and infectious pop/rock songs that mix Barnes' acoustic sensibility with a slick, often dance-oriented studio vibe that still make room for a few country-inflected numbers. Vocally, Barnes has a yearning, burnished style perfectly suited for this contemporary pop material. To these ends, we get tracks such as the lead-off "White Flag" and "How Long," which sound a bit like a Jason Mraz crossed with '80s AOR hitmaker Steve Winwood. Elsewhere, the anthemic "Mine to Love," the moody "Seventeen," and the soulful ballad "Warm Heart in a Cold World" are passionate, well-constructed, and radio-ready contemporary pop songs.

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