Audio By Carbonatix
Creede Williams’ latest offering, After the Letters, showcases a gamble that many songwriters make: showing off their sensitive hearts in a mainly literal fashion, while hoping to remain engaging and compelling. The risk that Williams takes yields some small yet satisfying payoffs, sure. But, ultimately, it fails to hit the massive Hotel Cafe jackpot that he was aiming for.
Released in November, Williams’ second album is a thoroughly catchy and tightly produced record that is about as VH1-ready as an album can be. Over the course of 11 tracks, the album practically begs you to sing along with it, thanks to a few melodies that subtly take over your brain.
But the Dallasite’s brand of singer-songwriter pop-rock is a bit too precious for its own good. The vocal performance, as well as the instrumentation, is appropriately cheerless when the situation calls for darkening skies, then sprightly beaming when the time is right to roll the clouds back for some feel-good sunshine. While Williams’ self-penned lyrics come across as genuine, the serious dearth of spontaneity undermines the attempts at whimsy that he and producer Cary Piece shoot for throughout the album. And as a result, it proffers an uneven and only marginally enjoyable sophomore CD.
