Soft rock/smooth soul synthesist
Tim van Berkestijn
had a quietly momentous 2018. His collaboration with
Rex Orange County
, "Loving Is Easy," snuck into Billboard's Alternative Songs chart and bounced within it for ten weeks. The Amsterdam native's U.S. profile continued to rise with his signing to
Stones Throw
, the November announcement of which was synchronized with the release of "Passionfruit," a revamp of the
Drake
hit, not -- as some longtime listeners might have expected -- a medley of tunes from
Michael Franks
' like-titled album. Two months earlier,
van Berkestijn
had released his sixth studio album as
Benny Sings
,
City Melody
, only in Japan. It forms the basis of his first
LP, sporting a revised title that works on multiple levels.
City Pop
was recorded in Amsterdam, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and most importantly, Tokyo, and shares its name with a late-'70s/early-'80s J-pop subgenre described by supreme connoisseur and
contemporary
Ed Motta
as "AOR and soft rock but with some funk and boogie." Like the artists
Motta
showcased on his city pop mixes for Wax Poetics,
favors soft rock's openly R&B- and jazz-indebted faction, and uses an assortment of sweet and mellow sounds -- his most organic variety yet -- to underpin his expressions of longing, resolve, and frustration regarding romance. The best of the bunch, including the
Mayer Hawthorne
-assisted "Not Enough" and the
Doobie Brothers
-
Todd Rundgren
compound "Late at Night," can put a tear in your eye and a dip in your hip. The mood subtly lifts on a few occasions, such as the easygoing "Summerlude" and the
Cornelius
collaboration "My World," a tender lullaby addressed to
's daughter. Moreover, the album concludes shrewdly with the Tokyo version of "Softly" -- originally a
bonus track -- the set's brightest, most direct, and warm-hearted moment, with several Japanese instrumentalists among
's support. What doesn't stick elsewhere at least charms with unbidden sincerity. ~ Andy Kellman