Ben Kweller : Ben Kweller : Review : Rolling Stone

After fronting the short-lived teenage grunge band Radish, Ben Kweller proved a songwriter to watch with 2002's Sha Sha and 2004's lesser On My Way, both of which offered solid alt-rock and power pop. On Ben Kweller -- a slightly less edgy record stuck between its two predecessors quality-wise -- the twenty-five-year-old touches on Sixties pop and Seventies AM fare on songs that sound both well-crafted and unfussy, if a little lightweight. Kweller plays every instrument here, and bright cuts like "Run" and "Magic" feature a sturdy guitar sound that leaves plenty of room for Kweller's boyish whine and catchy choruses. Though Kweller is getting better at channeling his thoughtful disaffection, his best lines still sound tossed off, as on "Thirteen": "We questioned religions/Gave bread to the pigeons." All in all a sweet little batch of songs, but not the great record Kweller may have in him.