John Butler Trio — Sunrise Over Sea

A star in his native Australia, John Butler could be the antidote to John Mayer's acoustic slurred-speech Romeo. Both Johns are capable of adult-oriented acoustic-rock, but Butler has a better wonderland of sonics; on this latest record, he and his revamped trio offset their muddy pop-rock and middling lyrics with some sprightly banjo and some reggae-folk b-boy stances ("Peaches & Cream," "Company Sin"). Yet Butler's missteps into lumbering modern rock on songs like "What You Want" and "Oldman" and his straying near Anthony Kiedis's skater-man funk delivery keep Sunrise from shining for more than half an hour.

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