Record review: Gavin DeGraw, "Gavin DeGraw"

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By NICOLE PENSIERO / Philadelphia Inquirer

2½ stars

Five years after “I Don’t Want To Be” helped his homespun, piano-driven pop-rock debut album “Chariot” reach platinum status, Gavin DeGraw is back with a slightly edgier but less consistent follow-up. Going for a more straightforward rock sound, DeGraw displays plenty of prowess as a pianist, guitarist, and writer of infectious, radio-friendly melodies. The album’s first single, “In Love With A Girl” is one of those perfect, roll-down-the-windows summer songs, while the tender “Let It Go” proves DeGraw a worthy romantic balladeer. But his keen musicality and distinctively soulful vocals can’t completely overcome the overabundance of wordy rhymes and nonsensical lyrics that show up on songs like the guitar-and-piano fueled “Medicate the Kids,” a cringe-worthy rant against ADD meds, or “Cop Stop,” in which he earnestly promises a potential love interest that he won’t, uh, treat her “like a rental car.”