The Way the World Looks

Album Review

A winner of Australian Idol, Wes Carr stole the show by producing more than the standard set of "vocals and nothing more." Carr has experience as a singer/songwriter and a club performer, and those experiences come to the forefront in The Way the World Looks. The core of his sound here is a fairly simple pop/rock one, but the influences come out quickly and noticeably. It's those influences, as well as Carr's own additions, that lead to an extremely catchy overall result. Carr's vocals are mildly grainy, but with enough clarity to hold the lighter choruses. The styles involved are what really shifts from song to song here, from an opening track with a ragtime sound to a Springsteen-esque "Feels Like Whoa" right after it. Carr can write off-kilter pop pieces in the vein of Maroon 5 (as in "Fearless" and "Stay Awake") or simple acoustic tropical pieces in the vein of Jack Johnson (as in "Hurricanes"). He can put together simple piano ballads (as in "Light Years") or over the top affairs (as in "When We Were Kings"). By the time he gets to a dance track near the end of the album ("You"), the listener has long stopped being surprised by the stylistic jumps. However, Carr keeps his performance quality consistent throughout the mix, and keeps the quality of composition generally consistent (there are a couple of drops in lyrical goodness here and there, but that's to be expected from a first-timer out of a talent show). He's certainly got a way to go before he can be seen as more than a guy from an Idol competition, but Carr is a lot farther down that road than most idols will ever be. [This edition includes a bonus disc.]