Gavin DeGraw: Chariot : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Gavin Degraw is an extroverted twenty-six-year-old New York singer and songwriter; his Chariot is a brash rock-accented pop album that sounds like it could have been recorded anytime in the last twenty-five years, thanks to the spotlight clarity of his strong tenor voice and the well-rehearsed attacks of his band. DeGraw isn't trying to evoke any retro sound, though: He puts all his creative money on his songs and performances. Tunes such as "Belief" and "Crush" are all about unretiring melodies and emotionalism; if you find them a little outsize or unnecessarily theatrical, no fascinating beats or alluring soundscapes exist to counter such impressions. The approach works on songs such as the well-written "Overrated," a churning rocker where DeGraw goes straight for the gut. He is unafraid, as he sings, to risk obviousness.

JAMES HUNTER
(RS 929, August 21, 2003)