Dreaming Out Loud

Album Review

When a remixed version of "Apologize" wound its way onto Timbaland Presents Shock Value in early 2007, OneRepublic was faced with an odd predicament — the group had a number one pop hit without an accompanying album. Dreaming Out Loud corrects that problem, delivering a marketable brand of piano-led pop/rock that recalls the melodies of the Fray and the vocal acrobatics of Maroon 5's Adam Levine. It's a testament to the band's talent that "Apologize" fares better in its original setting than in the Timbaland remix, most likely due to frontman Ryan Tedder's own experience as a producer. To his credit, Tedder was one of the industry's hottest commodities in 2007, co-writing material for Hilary Duff, Ashley Tisdale, and Natasha Bedingfield while producing tracks for Jennifer Lopez and American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis. He's saved some of his best work for OneRepublic's Dreaming Out Loud, but the rules are different here; his band doesn't have the brand-name appeal of Duff or Lopez, and they certainly can't expect the guaranteed audiences that Lewis and Disney megastar Tisdale enjoy. As a result, the album sounds slightly derivative, almost as if it's mimicking the popular trends that Tedder personally helped to create. "All We Are" sounds particularly Fray-like, with Tedder's affable vocals wailing a radio-ready melody over layers of piano and swelling guitar. Elsewhere, the ghost of Coldplay looms large, even if OneRepublic often favors cathartic, cranked-up choruses that Chris Martin has yet to tackle. Yet despite these similarities, Tedder's vocals outshine those of his past clients, and the bulk of his band's debut is cohesive and smoothly pleasant, although not altogether original. [Interscope's 2007 Target Exclusive edition featured two bonus tracks.]