Gabe Dixon bland
Proudly wearing the sensitive singer/songwriter label, Gabe Dixon harks back to the days of James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg while falling in line with fellow piano-benchwarmers like Chris Martin and that guy from Keane. His self-titled band’s self-titled album—their third in six years but first for Fantasy—lays on keys and liberal daubs of gospel organ that add drama to these songs, which are driven by the creatively tight rhythm section of Winston Harrison and Jano Rix. But even they can’t disguise Dixon’s Chicken Soup for the Roots Pop Soul lyrics. Whether writing song after song about finding one’s way home or trading in awkwardly phrased platitudes like “The higher you reach the further the sky, the more miles you walk the longer the road,” Dixon seems to have no greater ambition than scoring TV montages, although his band sounds capable of so much more.