Donavon Frankenreiter released his self-titled 2004 debut through his surf buddy Jack Johnson‘s label Brushfire. And three studio albums later he’s still swimming in the same balmy beach-folk waters. “I wanna see your daylight shining all around your heart,” he murmurs over mellow acoustic guitar in “Glow,” one of several tracks here seemingly awaiting an eventual appearance in some feel-good romantic comedy. As with Johnson’s stuff, some of these tunes tread so lightly that they fail to make an impression at all; “Dance Like Nobody’s Watching,” for instance, might’ve been more accurately titled “Sing Like Nobody’s Listening.” And “Keeping Me Away From You” sounds like it was cobbled together from cutting-room scraps by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. But when Frankenreiter hits upon a groove juicy enough to compensate for his featherweight croon-as heard on the organ-enriched “Hold On,” which summons some Black Crowes-style boogie-rock action-it’s smooth sailing from here to Margaritaville.
