The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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Heavier Sound

John Mayer’s new album “Heavier Things” has uniqueness to it, but lacks “something.”

His preceding chart-topping album, “Room For Squares” has a quality to it that seemed unparalleled, and for the most part, has been proven. “Heavier Things” is based more on a jazz tone, with acoustic finger-picking left on the back burner.

The new album begins with the song “Clarity,” which contains different beats, perhaps lending Mayer’s name into another genre of music. Where catchy riffs and finger-picking brought together choruses and verses, Mayer switches gears completely by replacing them with dropped beats and rhythms.

Collectively, Mayer’s new release has great beats and rhythm as well as smoothness, much like “Room For Squares,” yet the acoustic feeling seems lost.

“Heavier Things” definitely has Mayer’s style to it which, essentially, is quite unique in itself. The first single released was “Bigger Than My Body” and probably was the best choice to single first, due to its general style.

Lyrically, “Heavier Things” matches what its predecessor laid out, and is what brought me around to listening to the CD over and over again. Musically, the album is amazing, but definitely not what I thought it would be.

At the John Mayer and Counting Crows concert at the Tweeter Center this past summer, Mayer’s performance of his new material was great. The songs sounded much better live than on the album. From Mayer’s “Room For Squares” tour to this past summer’s, I noticed a slight style change, whereas on the album it seemed evident.

So all in all, the album hasn’t lived up to the anticipation behind it (for me at least). It is definitely a great album to pick up, and is slowly growing on me.

CD Rating: B

Live Rating: A