There are a few music industry-created genre titles that are kind of the kiss of death, such as ‘Easy Listening’ (unless it’s Sugar’s great File Under: Easy Listening) and ‘Adult Contemporary’. They evoke the kind of music that your mom listens to, who thinks the music played at Starbucks is ‘edgy’. Singer/songwriter SJ tried to avoid that kind of classification by coming up with his own, ‘Acoustic Soul’ (the name of his label), but he’s still filed on the ‘adult contemporary’ charts (and charting on it). However, this kind of sound is easy because it’s enjoyable, and SJ’s Coffee is that.
Coffee kicks off with single "I Like You", and it’s the best selling point for SJ, relaxed and oh-so-enjoyable – forgive the pun, but it’s hard not to like "I Like You". SJ never quite matches that high for the rest of Coffee, but does also go into more jam-light, Dave Matthews terrain ("I Am", "Let Me Be"), as well sadder & sweeter ("Coffee", "Breathe"). The likeability of Coffee does make it feel simple in its lack of complexity, and somewhat repetitive – "It’s Not Me" doesn’t quite grow from alt-folk promise, while the following "Almost Good Enough" is a cheery, but thin, ditty. The more accomplished SJ does return on closer "Fresh Soul", as well as the impressive pluck & strum of bonus track "Go Your Way".
SJ isn’t going to wow hipsters with Coffee, and they’ll probably still roll their eyes when their mom plays it while making dinner on their visit home (to ask for money). But if they, if anyone, stopped paying attention to labels and just listened, they’d like Coffee.
MP3 Stream: "I Like You"
