The singer-songwriter craze of the 1970’s took a long hiatus before artists like Sarah McLaughlin and Shawn Colvin gave the adult contemporary set a fresh face. More recently, younger acts like John Mayer and Norah Jones have kept the ball rolling. Dustin James on his debut album Being makes his bid to join the laid back party.

James’ voice is smooth and easy, sometimes to a fault. There are moments when his voice and the music he’s crafted interlock so closely that the two are almost indistinguishable. Thankfully, his lyrics – tied heavily to trying to figure out life after having your heart broken – afford plenty of moments for real emotions to pull the vocals up to another level. His voice has an angelic quality to it, not unlike Josh Groban’s, which helps sell the image of a damaged soul.

The subject matter makes for some mopiness here and there – not exactly unexpected considering in the liner notes James thanks “the woman that one day walked into my life and the next day walked out” – but it’s not prevalent enough to drag the songs down. Instead, the brooding quality to most of the tracks is offset by a string of very pretty melodies.

This is the kind of music that makes it feel as though you should have a glass of wine, even if you’re strictly a beer drinker. “Come Home To You” has a twinge of Motown (by way of Michael McDonald) to it that offsets nicely from the other tunes. Meanwhile, “Anna” with it’s lilting backing vocals and strong guitar work is a nice slice of soft jazz. The other songs, particularly “Minds Seem To Change,” would fit in nicely on any local late night Quiet Storm show.

With continued growth as a songwriter, James has all of the requisite talent to sell a lot of records. It will be interesting to see if the lovelorn theme continues on past Being or if the demons have been exorcised enough to open things up for other emotions. That’s a question for his next offering, however. In the interim, throw this CD on the stereo, light the candles, let the wine breath and just be for a little while.