Amos Lee: Mission Bell – review

Blessed with a classic blue-eyed soul voice, Philadelphia's Amos Lee has courted the mainstream a little too assiduously on his last three albums. Taking himself to Calexico's Arizona studio (Joey Burns produces) has lent his gentle anguish wider, more sonically interesting settings. Alongside folky pop such as "El Camino" come western-hued outings such as "Hello Again", with its Tex-Mex brass and shimmering guitars, and the still, echoing "Out of the Cold". Lee's themes are romantic loss and personal redemption (religious imagery is never far away), to which Lucinda Williams (on "Clear Blue Eyes") and Willie Nelson (on "Behind Me Now") add a touch of gritty experience. Classy work.