On the grandiose intro to his sophomore set, Maryland-based Singer-songwriter Raheem DeVaughn goes straight Sybil. And while the “R&B hippie/neo-soul rock star” doesn’t quite pull off either of those personalities convincingly, it’s pedestrian lyrics that nearly do the earnest soul man in. On the Fender Rhodes come-on “Love Drug,” a thugged-out mess, he absurdly croons “You’re pure as snow from Colombia / You keeps it tight for me like Ziplocs...” By the time the slow bounce groove of “Customer” arrives, one wonders how the same kid who displayed knockout vocal maturity on his 2005 debut, The Love Experience (Jive), could spout piffle like “I’m the catch of the day.”
DeVaughn does come to his senses to deliver the type of grown and love-starved balladry he excels at on the alluring “Desire,” a slow cut that owes more to the romanticism of Will Downing than today’s lay-and-slay R&B male vocalists. And the jazz-inflected “Marathon,” featuring Floetry, is so far the sexiest song of 2008, with sweat-drenched lines like “I’m caught in your seduction / You make me lust for more and more.”
Finally, the lover-man is back.
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