Pentatonix, 鈥淭he Lucky Ones鈥� (RCA Records)
There's a new Pentatonix album, which leads to the question, 鈥淒idn't we already have Christmas?鈥� And the answer: Yes, this isn't a Christmas set, despite the huge snowball on the album's cover.
鈥淭he Lucky Ones鈥� marks the group鈥檚 first full-length original album in six years. It鈥檚 extremely well produced, veering more to mainstream, radio-friendly pop than their self-titled debut album. It shows a maturing sound independent of Christmas and popular covers of such songs as 鈥淛olene鈥� and 鈥淚magine.鈥�
Members of the five-piece group 鈥� Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola and Matt Sallee 鈥� have a songwriting hand in every tune. Matthew Koma, who has worked with Zedd, helps write the majority of tunes.
Unfortunately, they鈥檝e picked one of the weakest songs to kick off the album 鈥� the vapid single 鈥淏e My Eyes" 鈥� which has a skeleton of an Enya tune and a grating chorus. It sounds dated and dusty.
Much better are 鈥淎 Little Space,鈥� "Coffee in Bed" and 鈥淪ide,鈥� which could all be on a Justin Bieber album. 鈥淗appy Now鈥� is exuberant fun and the title track is super, when the five voices thrillingly meld.
The album has many textures, from the intimate 鈥淚t's Different Now鈥� to the soaring, arena-ready 鈥淟ove Me When I Don't鈥� and 鈥淣ever Gonna Cry Again.鈥� It鈥檚 also nice to hear Maldonado increasingly take lead vocal duties.
One interesting thing about Pentatonix this time out is an increased distancing from what made them famous: that choral of a cappella voices, what they cheekily on 鈥淏ored鈥� boast of being as 鈥渟o in synch you'd think we were psychic.鈥�
Much of 鈥淭he Lucky Ones鈥� follows a formula with a single dominant voice as a backbone and the five only combining softly in choruses, a big finish or in bridges. It's fine, often excellent 鈥� just maybe not what you might expect from a Pentatonix album.
Think of it like a nice post-Christmas present.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
