Bryn Christopher ‘My World’ review

3 stars (out of 5)

0

Bryn ChristopherBryn Christopher is an R’n’B singer song-writer who hails from Birmingham. The 22 year old has recently come on to t

he music scene and after the success of his first single ‘The Quest’ he has followed it up with second single ‘Smilin’ from his debut album ‘My world’ which was released on September 8th 2008.

When I first listened to the album I could definitely see the motown influences on Christopher. The first track ‘Help Me’ is a Latino sounding, upbeat song. It really managed to show case Christopher’s voice which has a real Stevie Wonder quality to it. I wouldn’t say it was exactly my thing, but it wasn’t by any means a bad song and if you are a fan of jazz and soul then you would really like this.

The second track and second single ‘Smilin’ was much better than the first and I could definitely see it being a hit. Again, it is a great example of his voice which sounds almost Bee gee like in this song, and shows he has great range. It was much more poppy than jazz, and there was a nice use of the drums. The third song ‘Sour Times’ was by far the best song on the album so far, and more like a pop ballad than retro soul. I thought the lyrics were well thought out, and fitted well with Christopher’s voice.

I really didn’t think much of the fourth track ‘Stay with Me.’ It was nothing special, and I found the lyrics were quite repetitive, and I don’t think this song showed anything different or any great range at all. In fact the only thing I liked was the background music with the great drum beat which gave it depth.

The next song was first single ‘The Quest’ and you could really hear the pure element of soul in this. The song is about Christopher’s soldier brother leaving for Basra, and it obviously sung with great emotion. However, at this point in the album I felt it would have been nice to hear a more upbeat song as it felt like all the songs were just blending into each other. I am surprised that this was chosen as his first single as nothing really special jumped out at me when I heard this.

Seventh track ‘Found a New Love’

was a very soulful and decent effort from the singer and almost had a gospel sound to it with the choir in the background. Even though it wouldn’t be my usual choice, I could see this song being popular as Christopher’s voice has some real attitude to it, and I think he actually suits this type of song more than others. The final song on the album ‘My Kinda Woman’ was much slower than the others, like a love letter being sung. I thought this was really quite beautiful and would probably sound great live, definitely one for the romantics.

All in all I would say this debut album isn’t a bad first effort, the best thing by far about it is Christopher’s soulful and smooth voice, and I think with some better written songs he could really flourish. However, I just didn’t like a lot of the songs and I can’t see them doing too well in the present charts. Perhaps he is just a little too retro for me. My songs to skip would be ‘Stay with me’, ‘Seconds Ago’ and ‘Gonegonegone.’ My songs to listen to would be ‘Smilin’, ‘Sour Times’ and the gorgeous ‘My Kinda Woman.’ Although he might not be my cup of tea, with other motown style singers like Duffy doing well in music scene, maybe Christopher will impress enough people to enjoy the same success.

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