Draw the Line

iTunes Review

David Gray began his career as an acoustic guitar-wielding Van Morrison acolyte, wresting existential angst from a whirring loop of simple chords and aching vocal jumps. Over the years, he’s found his voice with a tight, unobtrusive backing band that flirts with early-‘70s soft rock while occasionally spiking up the electricity with an extra warm guitar chord. The title track here perfectly demonstrates what Gray does best. The chords in the bridge head towards pending doom only to be rescued by the contemplative and gentle acoustic picking that sets up things for Gray’s emotional but never overwhelmed delivery. Gray often trades the guitar for piano these days where the elliptical chords make their reappearance for “Jackdaw” and provide the backdrop for his duet with Jolie Holland on “Kathleen” and his pensive rumination (“Transformation”). Gray’s toned-down approach has him landing somewhere between Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne. “Stella the Artist” kicks up the tempo, while his closing duet with Annie Lennox sounds quite passionate and tense.