A deliberately careful songwriter with an at times Dylanesque flair forunlikely rhymes (he matches "spokes" with "hoax," for instance, andmostly gets away with it), a certain Nick Drake-like fragility (due inlarge part to his voice, which is pitched high and sounds at timeseerily like Billie Holiday), and a subtle African pop feel (he has FemiKuti singing backing vocals on one of the songs here), Brett Dennen iscertainly singular, and at his best, he catches a breezy, mellow groovethat allows his thoughtful songs to truly shine. If there's a downside,it's that they all shine in almost exactly the same way, and over thecourse of an album, can start to feel like one big mellow song sungover and over again without a whole lot of variation. But when thesesongs work, they really work, and pieces like "Heaven," even thoughDennen goes on about things like "the cloth of conviction," arestrikingly effective.

Other standouts on Hope for the Hopeless, his third album, include theKuti track, "Make You Crazy" (which features Dennen's most perfectlysoulful and spirited vocal yet), the easily likeable "World KeepsTurning," the impressive "Ain't Gonna Lose You" (where the spokes/hoaxrhyme dwells), and the innocently positive and hopeful "Follow YourHeart," even though it sounds maybe too much like a second rewrite ofNeil Young's "Heart of Gold" at times. Nothing here is less thanpleasant, but the lyrics do get a little on the overwrought and ornateside in songs like "So Far from Me," where crows ravage a field ofwheat while scarecrows know their own defeat etc., and if Dylan can getaway with stuff like that because he's, well, Dylan, Dennen makes itall sound just a little too delicate and labored. Still, Hope for theHopeless works more than it doesn't, and when it really clicks here,which is often enough, Dennen shows himself to be a unique voice andtalent.