With A Strange Arrangement, Mayer Hawthorne tries his best to not so much reinvent the soul music of the 60s and 70s but rather emulate it to his best abilities. The problem is his aspirations exceed his vocal talents. Instrumentally, Hawthorne has remained faithful to his idols of yester-decade by creating lush yet simple soundscapes that any Motown member would have been comfortable singing on. However, vocally, Hawthorne sounds half-asleep and his range limited. From the self-titled opening track through, Hawthorne's voice changes very little while sounding only slightly interested in the topic he is singing about (97% of the time it's love in one form or another). Although love is A Strange Arrangement's chief topic, on "The Ills", Hawthorne attempts to channel his Curtis Mayfield by taking his range up and discussing world issues (all over a beat that sounds totally ripped off of Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks"), however, much like the album itself, the idea is better than the results. While soul/neo-soul fans will look at this album as a refreshing attempt to revamp the genre, Hawthorne himself is not quite there yet as an artist to fulfill these hopes.
3.0/5.0
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