Dashboard Confessional, Keyshia Cole, Trey Songz and José González.

the music press

tue 10/2/2007

A collage of Dashboard Confessional, Keyshia Cole, Trey Songz and José González.

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Chris Carrabba's emo outfit, Dashboard Confessional, returns with The Shade Of Poison Trees, its fifth studio album. Entertainment Weekly gives The Shade a "C+" for offering "little evidence that [Carrabba] has matured along with his audience." Rolling Stone cuts Carrabba some slack for returning to his roots: “This time … emo's dashing hero reaches back for the intimate sounds of his youth, rather than just faded diary pages."
Keyshia Cole, the "Princess of Hip Hop Soul," releases her second album, Just Like You. Industry standard Billboard is delighted that Just Like You “is rife with sincere lyrics about troubled relationships paired with soaring vocals and top-notch production.” Allmusic.com finds a grown-up Cole whose “voice grows from an occasionally powerful emotive device into a versatile instrument.”
R&B smoothie Trey Songz delivers his sophomore effort, Trey Day. Blogger Studio Couture laments “Trey Songz is one of the best male vocalists in the industry today,” but he “doesn’t live up to the expectations and potential that we fans and critics expected from his debut.” Think2Twice raves Trey Day is "equally up to par as his debut album, I Gotta Make It, if not greater!"
Swedish-Argentino songwriter José González is back with In Our Nature, his second album. The Onion A.V. Club gives the album a "B+" for “serving up more droning lo-fi acoustic ballads built on... González's winningly wistful voice." Stylus Magazine agrees and gives González a "B" for crafting an album that “sounds simultaneously familiar, yet alien.”