NEWS: FRONTIERS MAGAZINE January 13, 2009

Brendan Velasquez

“Livin’ Out Loud”

Smiley Entertainment Records

3 stars

How refreshing to see a boy out-Britney Ms.Spears herself! On Livin’Out Loud Brendan Velasquez trumps her in every aspect, save tabloid headlines. Though this breezy collection of dancey-shmancey tunes relies too heavily on vocal gimmickry, songs like “Anxious” and “Like A Lover Should” will bounce off the walls of your head, in a good way, long after you stop playing them. The razor-sharp production propels these lightweight but satisfying dance tunes into an other-worldly happy orbit. Unfortunately, the album’s strength is also its weakness: due to said production there is a sameness which makes what should have been a dozen songs sound more like one song divided into twelve sections. Only on “You Get To Me”, by far the album’s highlight, do things change up a bit. But, whatever … the album does what it should, and does it well. - Bob Werner