Jason Castro may not have been the perfect American Idol contestant -- he always seemed too mellow to make a serious bid for first place -- but he sure knew how to sell a song, with his cover of
Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” topping digital charts several days after his TV performance. Idol producers eventually yanked the song off the Internet, fearing that sales statistics would sway voters, but the facts had already spoken for themselves.
Castro had chart potential.
Of course, all of that occurred two years before the release of
Castro’s debut album. In the world of American Idol, a world in which aspiring singers are the talk of Tinseltown one minute and forgotten faces the next, timing is everything.
David Cook and
David Archuleta released albums within months of the Idol finale, followed one year later by
Michael Johns,
Kristy Lee Cook, and
Brooke White.
Jason Castro’s album is the very last of the bunch, an acoustic LP that finds its creator strumming the guitar, crooning about love, and co-writing most of his own material. The timing isn't perfect, but the songs aren’t bad at all, with most of the material taking its cues from
Jason Mraz,
Ben Harper, and other folk-pop heavyweights. The most memorable tunes here -- “Let’s Just Fall in Love Again,” possibly the best song recorded by an Idol veteran in years, and an extended version of “Hallelujah” -- weren’t written by
Castro, but he performs both like they’re his own, singing with an understated sincerity that looked like disinterest on TV but sounds great on record. Meanwhile, the tracks he did write bode well for
Castro's future releases, with breezy melodies and lighthearted, summery arrangements that suit his voice well. ~ Andrew Leahey