CD Reviews

Colbie Caillat

Coco | Universal

By MIKAEL WOOD | October 30, 2007

1.0 Stars

This young LA-based singer-songwriter is part of an emerging breed of Billboard-climbing folk-pop babes using YouTube and MySpace to build a devoted audience from the hard drive up. (See also Marié Digby, Kate Walsh, and Ingrid Michaelson.) On the cover of her major-label debut, Caillat bears an uncanny resemblance to Jennifer Aniston, and her music satisfies in pretty much the same way that a Friends rerun does: there’s not a thrill to be had here, but the singer’s warm acoustic-guitar strumming, easygoing everychick vocals, and laid-back beach-life ruminations — all utterly familiar if handsomely rendered — provide a kind of calming reassurance that seems brainless until you drink in its effects. (Indeed, drinking tends to increase the value of stuff like this, as Caillat herself appears to acknowledge in “Midnight Bottle.”) That value might well be a product of context: without war or credit trouble or Soulja Boy, Coco could sound like the garbage they won’t even play at the Body Shop. Dare to dream.

Colbie Caillat + Brett Dennen | The Roxy, 279 Tremont Street, Boston | November 1 | 617.931.2000

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