You, the Night, and Candlelight - EP

iTunes Review

Forget the lace-trimmed card and the fancy box of chocolates — Dave Barnes’ You, the Night, and Candlelight makes the perfect Valentine’s Day offering. This 2009 EP may be short (five songs, including several remakes), but it's decidedly sweet and appealing. Over the course of three previous albums, South Carolina-born Barnes honed his craft to a fine edge, combining a natural aptitude for pop, R&B, and country sounds with a sunny, spiritually oriented lyric perspective. For this release, he serves up romantic tunes with unaffected ease, as his buoyant new composition “Loving You, Loving Me” makes clear. This balmy, funk-tinged tune is complimented by a honeyed cover version of the Temptations’ classic “My Girl.” Stylish updates of “Until You” and “I Have and Always Will” along with the piano-based ballad “Home” round out the set. Taken together, the tracks on You, the Night, and Candlelight reaffirm both Barnes’ Southern charm as a singer and his deceptively guileless way with a song. Get cozy and share them with someone you love.