Hard-working indie sweethearts, the Graham Colton, really makes a go of it with “Drive,” his second full-length studio album release.
The album is a good example of the band’s all-around talents for sweet songs that express happiness and remorse.
Colton’s voice is pure and prepubescently deceptive – it’s softness gives off the appearance that, like so many similar voices in indie rock today, it will only get applied to throwaway lyrics and forgettable tunes. Alas, that’s not the case at all.
Colton’s lyrics are heavier than his peers, and so rooted in reality that when he sings about “the first time that we slept with the light on” in “First Week” you can comprehend the awkwardness and the anticipation of the moment.
The band’s most recent single, “Cigarette” is equally as powerful, with Colton seeking comfort in vices and fears.
As singer/songwriter, Colton has the writing talents of Chris Carrabba and the musical abilities of Rob Thomas, but he melds the two in a style that differs greatly from Dashboard melodrama and Matchbox Twenty pop-sadness.
Even at its emotionally lowest, the songs are still hopeful and positive and it’s hard to ignore the talents so deftly displayed on this album.
