Light : Matisyahu : Review : Rolling Stone

Four years after he debuted, Hasidic Jew and reggae toaster Matisyahu is well past the novelty stage, as the large crowds at his shows attest. He sounds thoroughly like a pro on his third album, which finds him employing island-flavored jams, skittery hip-hop and slick keyboard grooves. On bright pleasures like the New Wave-y "We Will Walk," Light comes close to becoming an attention-holding pop album. But it's dragged into earnest tedium by good-natured platitudes ("I must find a road that leads where nobody goes") and hippie-soul moments like "Thunder," on which Matisyeezy sounds like a self-serious indie rapper with a major vegan bent.