On the album art of
Black, his eighth album,
Dierks Bentley appears in a seemingly foreign atmosphere for the country singer: the stylish, sexy streets of a city at night. This change in setting -- previously,
Bentley has been seeing picking on a porch, grinning in an alley, staring into the sunset, and chilling with a dog -- doesn't necessarily suggest a leap into crossover country-pop, but there's little question that the sultry gloss of
Black is a consolidation of 2014's
Riser, a record slicker and straighter than its predecessors. Call it maturation as much as a shift in aesthetics. Now 40,
Bentley doesn't spend as much time raising the roof as he once did, preferring slow grooves and smoky textures. When he gets loose, it's in a measured fashion: "Somewhere on a Beach" and "Roses and a Time Machine," tacit sequels to "Drunk on a Plane," march to a beat so deliberate that revelry seems like an afterthought, even when
Dierks sings about "edumacation." Only when he brings Trombone Shorty in for a cameo on "Mardi Gras" does the pace actually quicken, but
Black is intentionally bereft of such carefree moments. Alternating impeccable midtempo anthems and soft ballads -- the latter including duets with
Maren Morris ("I'll Be the Moon") and
Elle King ("Different for Girls") --
Black winds up gelling into gently pulsing AAA-country. It's mood music, sometimes playing as smooth as a seduction but better suited for moments of introspection when you're surrounded by a crowd and need to isolate. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine