James Morrison - The Awakening
James Morrison has returned with new album The Awakening, he first album in three years.
The album certainly has its high points, and is tied together by Morrison's great vocals and some nice instrumentation.
At times, though, it can feel a little bland, and ultimately unmemorable.
His fans will lap it up and embrace the sound, although it may struggle to change the minds of the sceptics.
Tracks like lead single 'I Won't Let You Go' lift The Awakening, which does have some wonderful moments.
'Up' is a bit of a darker tune, helped by guest appearance from Jessie J, who sounds fantastic on the track.
Morrison told us that he wanted to create an actual album rather than a collection of songs.
Whilst he has achieved this to an extent, some of the songs unfortunately feel like filler.
The album does manage to be relatively diverse at times, but only the occasional song ('Person I Should Have Been') really stands out as something memorable.
It's a shame, because Morrison is clearly a talented singer-songwriter, but some songs are missing something to take it to the next level.
Rather than properly treading new ground, songs like 'Beautiful Lie' are (whilst still sounding great) a bit predictable.
With singer-songwriters like Laura Marling and Frank Turner showing more variety and depth, James Morrison could get lost in the shuffle somewhat.
The Awakening is by no means a poor album, but it was just a bit too safe to push it further.
Check out our interview with James Morrison here.
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