SIDES
Justin Hines
Orange/Universal
***
As a gentle Toronto emoter releases his fine debut disc, what I hear is late-night radio - WEZZ, "easy as you please" - with young singer-songwriter Justin Hines offering tunes in the mature styles of Cat Stevens, Dave Loggins and Amos Lee. "That was Shadow Girl, with its nice loping rhythm and peeking Wurlitzer," Hines might say. "Before that we heard the album's over-mild first single April on the Ground - and now a word from our sponsor, Bland Brand Vanilla Wafer. This next one, a cover of I've Got a Name, goes out to my father, who introduced me to Jim Croce when I was little...." On it goes like that, with something like the plucky For It's You perking our interest just when things get running a bit too smooth. All in all, an album to tune into.
Brad Wheeler