Good thoughts about 'All of You'

Dan Aquilante

MUSIC REVIEWS

Album of the week

COLBIE CAILLAT "All of You"

****

Over the course of the 12 magnificently melodic tracks of "All of You," a record sown with jangly acoustic arrangements, Colbie Caillat cements her wholesome, girl-next-door image.

From top to bottom, the record is about the glories and stories of love. And Caillat's songwriting has taken a leap forward from her appealing but simple 2007 hit "Bubbly." Take the ukulele-and-piano-powered "I Do," for instance: On the surface it's about desire for marital commitment, but on close listen, maybe she's saying that sharing yourself with another is enough.

Josh Newton Photography

Colbie Caillat sings of love on the 12 tracks of her new CD.

The optimism in Caillat's lyrics is uplifting without getting sappy, such as on the let's-play-nice number "Think Good Thoughts."

Although Caillat falls firmly into pop ground, she does offer some stylistic change-ups.

The album opener is a clap-happy syncopated tune, "Brighter Than the Sun," that with just a slight tempo slip could be calypso. And Caillat steps outside her coffeehouse girl 'n' guitar style on "Favorite Song," a piece interspersed with smooth rhymes from rapper Common.

Caillat even visits vocal territory usually reserved for Stevie Nicks on the ballad "What If" (featured in the movie "Letters to Juliet").

Download of the week

INCUBUS "Switchblade"

***

After nearly five years of silence, rock quintet Incubus mounts a comeback with the record appropriately titled "If Not Now, When?" While many of the 11 tracks are wimpier than you'd expect from the hard-rock outfit, the band's signature aggressiveness does emerge in "Switchblade," a fast piece in which singer Brandon Boyd's vocals float on a drum-and-bass foundation. The melody sounds as dangerous as the title. The lyrics are cryptic, opening with Boyd frantically singing, "Keep getting attacked by the girl in the black hat," but the song ultimately is about being seduced by the dark side.