Gray’s sound just too bland

David Gray’s name has always been a reflection of the most positive aspects of his music: tenderly constructed songs that evoke brilliant shades of gray even at mostly-middling tempos. The moods fell right in line as well. Melancholy never dipped to despair, nor did it rise too high.

But on his newest LP, “Foundling,” we find Gray sounding as old as he ever has.
Arrangements are bare boned and mostly acoustic as he labors through the shallow tones and basic patterns. Gray is something like Bob Dylan’s introspective step-brother, his croon is less concerned with the big picture than he is with basic human ironies and bittersweet tales of love. Unfortunately, these lyrics sometimes venture into triviality, through lame lyrical devices like “The Old Chair.”

None of the instrumentation is as interesting or as peculiar as some of Gray’s lyrics. Nuanced workers like he tend to be particularly susceptible to monotony, and “Foundling” finds it with songs like “A New Day at Midnight” and the title track.

Maybe a little too cryptic or just a little too personal, “Foundling” is quite a departure from the days of interesting arrangements found on albums like “White Ladder.”