After long wait, Degraw returns
By Miranda Likes
Many musicians, after landing their first big break with a record company, opt to name their debut album after themselves. It makes sense for several reasons: It’s a signal to new listeners that the artist is new, and it can help audiophiles to remember the name of the new artist. The best and most ludicrous example of this is probably the 1974 song “Bad Company,” by the artist Bad Company, on the album, “Bad Company.” The strategy worked for them, by the way; that album has sold over 5 million copies… but I digress.
Gavin DeGraw has a new self-titled album out this week, but it wouldn’t be fair to call it his debut album. Instead, the world was introduced to the pop rocker in 2003 with the 11 track record “Chariot.” “Chariot” proved to be a surprise hit and was re-released the following year with a bonus disc of acoustic versions of the songs on the original album.
DeGraw caught a lucky break when his song “I Don’t Want to Be” was selected as the theme song for the teen drama, “One Tree Hill.” It actually seems kind of surprising that DeGraw would wait five years to release his sophomore album, considering the considerable boost and exposure the WB/CW television show afforded him. The show has since abandoned any theme song, so how will DeGraw’s latest offering stack up without the extra assistance?
The singer gets to business immediately with the first track, “In Love with a Girl,” which was released as the first single of the album in February, but hasn’t been overplayed on the radio to the point of running the song into the ground. (Expect that to change fast, probably by the time this article is published.) It’s a rocking little song that quickly establishes the record as a bit poppy, but with a rock edge. It’s the kind of song you wouldn’t mind listening to in your car with the windows down and the volume up.
Another enjoyable offering from the album is “I Have You to Thank,” with lyrics like “I have you to thank for making me so / So hard to please because you treated me so / Good that no one else could hold your make-up.” The song is an upbeat track about being unashamedly in love with a girl. The song starts off at a slow pace, but gradually builds up to be quite a nice ballad by the end of the song.
Many of DeGraw’s tracks seem designed with radio airplay or rotation on MTV specifically in mind. After all, there are only three tracks on the album that manage to breach past the 4-minute mark. Likewise, many of the songs have repetitive choruses and catchy hooks that are easy to remember and sing along with, but at the same time begin to sound familiar after listening to one track after another after another where the formula has been applied.
With his songs that focus largely on love and relationships, along with his instrumental talent (playing both guitar and piano), and his insistence on writing all of his songs, it’s not much of a stretch to categorize DeGraw along with other pop singer-songwriters like John Mayer and Jason Mraz. For some, that’s an inviting and welcome comparison. For others, the thought of another Mayer or Mraz is too much to bear. Wherever you fall in that boat is likely to be a good indication of whether or not you’ll enjoy DeGraw’s work — personally, I don’t think it’s half bad at all.
Originally Published: Issue 647 - May 7, 2008
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