Pop/Rock - In what is promising to be a major breakthrough for the Oregon-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter, Mat Kearney's sophomore album City of Black and White has the kind of meticulous, studied feel to it that indicates that we're listening to an artist who approaches his work with a grander vision and an higher care of an artisan's craft. Good songwriters abound -- but exceptional songs presented with a larger scope, where production and instrumentation can make all the difference, are increasingly rare.

“It actually ended up sounding bigger than I expected," says Kearney, "big in a late-‘80s/epic kind of way. I knew that I wanted the whole record to feel good when I put it on. I wanted the drums and bass to demand something of your body, I wanted the songs to come to life when I played them live. I had been listening to a lot of Sam Cooke and I wanted the rhythm sections to make your head bob before you could decide if you liked the songs…I literally approached every song like I wanted it to feel good.”

To get the sound and feel he wanted -- "more intentional and refined" than his 2006 debut he says -- Kearney and producer Robert Marvin added a grab bag of instruments in addition to acoustic and electric guitars - glockenspiel, synths, "sleepy 70's piano", bells and more. He also rediscovered the earlier music of artist like U2, Tom Petty and songwriters such as Randy Newman to find out exactly how "they could be so concise and profound at the same time."

The result is a quantum leap forward stylistically for Kearney and an album that puts him firmly on a whole new level. Richly detailed, lyrically poignant and filled with a distinctive balance of subtle and sophisticated melodic hooks, songs like the lead track "Closer To Love" indicate that Kearney's Black and White future is bright. Recommended.

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