He may blur the lines between masculinity and feminity when he dances, but Brett Dennen can certainly turn out a decent song.
On stage, the ginger singer-songwriter who looks like the offspring of Carrot Top and Ellen DeGeneres (or Norwegian footballer John Arne Riise), has a knack for churning out soulful, catchy, melodic pop that makes you want to move your hips in a very inappropriate manner.
Which is exactly what the 30-year-old Californian does when he is on stage, gyrating in his skinny jeans, giving anyone in the front row a very clear view of his groinal area.
But most don’t care, because they are lost in his tuneful pop, a sort of Ottis Reading meets John Mayer.
His latest effort, 2008’s Hope for the Hopeless, is an 11-song, head-nodding, collection of love songs, each one flowing into the next with easy-listening beats, memorable lyrics and catchy hooks.
It’s the sort of album you could listen to walking the streets of San Francisco, or hear as the soundtrack to an independent film where the hero strives mercilessly to win back his one true love. Probably set in San Francisco too.
And ‘San Francisco’ is the name of the album’s opening track, a smooth, motown-esqu track that almost grabs you by the hand for a slow dance. Gyrating your hips is the only way you can dance to this track.
The rest of the album gently takes you by the shoulder and leads you to the dance floor. Some tracks are slower than others, like ‘So Far From Me’ a slow-winding track that almost cradles you as it plays.
Others are more upbeat, almost jazzy, like the sing-a-longable ‘World Keeps Turning’. Each song with it brings it’s own message of love won, love lost, or love yearned.
Voted one of Entertainment Weekly’s One to Watch last year and a touring bill with Jason Mraz this year makes the future look good for Brett Dennen.
