John Mayer: Room for Squares

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * )

In town last week toting this major label debut, Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Mayer is getting the future-star treatment stateside. The album shows the early twentysomething is an able guitarist - most of the 14 tracks show him as a dexterous acoustic player - and sing in a pleasant folk-pop voice that's as clean-cut as he is. But as an album, Room for Squares is full of earnest, wordy songs with a melodic style that's downright jumpy. Add colourless production and it blands out into a pleasant but forgettable goo - the Dave Matthews band without the tiresome jazz-rock bits. Yes, hookier numbers like Your Body is a Wonderland (which could be mistaken for David Gray), Why Georgia (where Mayer's six-string work is at its most fluid) show he's sometimes capable of a memorable sentiment aligned to a decent tune. But overall, Room for Squares is an innocuous album showing that, skilled as he is, Mayer is bit of a young fogey.

Label: Columbia