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Mar 31, 2014 Web Exclusive By Billy Hamilton

Hating Dan Croll isn’t easy. The English troubadour’s music is as inoffensive as it gets—like Grizzly Bear, without the grizzle or the bear. For some, such safety will instantly prove a turn-off. But safe is exactly what Dan Croll is, and you suspect he’s not likely to change any time soon.

So perhaps we should just embrace Dan Croll for being Dan Croll and swallow the dainty, charming popsicles of his debut LP Sweet Disarray. Because if we don’t, well, what exactly does that make us? The guys who ripped the head off the baby’s teddy bear?

But that’s the problem—it’s far too nice. The glorious, effervescent indie pop chimes of “From Nowhere” or the sloping lament of “Maway” are too sweet, too patronizingly pleasant. Yes, the production is polished to perfection and the melodies swoop and soar until your quivering heart can take no more, but it all comes down to one question: where is the fight?

Ultimately, it’s an issue Sweet Disarray never resolves. Cuts like “Must Be Leaving” and the purring “Wanna Know” are symptomatic of an earnest record that means and says absolutely nothing. So, sure, it may be hard to hate Dan Croll, but it really is just as difficult to love him. (www.dancroll.com)

Author rating: 4/10