Dominic Balli first tickled my ears with his song "Remedy," which perfectly blended some smooth reggae with redemptive lyrics and a skillfully-performed hip hop flow in the bridge. With new distribution through Infinity comes his sophomore album, American Dream. "All We Need Is Love" is a vaguely reggae track, but it's mostly a made-for-radio kind of song. It's a good song with a feel-good vibe, and a pretty catchy hook that gives it replayability. "Louder" is a very similar track; not identical, but the overall construction of the song is very similar (pop-reggae verses with a very poppy, acoustic hook). Balli has a few different sounds throughout this album; mostly reggae, if not reggae-based, but there's also the radio pop stuff here and there as well as a Jack Johnson-esque sound. The title track starts things off with an urban flair, and includes a guest appearance from P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval. Sandoval surprised listeners when he made an appearance in a Lecrae track last year, and he continues to surprise (and entertain) in this guest appearance as well. I love his line that says "They say cash rules everything around me, it seems for thirty pieces you can buy you a King." A lot of American Dream is on par with such reggae legends as Bob and Ziggy Marley, albeit with better production and sound on Balli's part. The only real downfall is that reggae is a hard genre to make into something amazing. It's not really Balli's fault, it's just that there's not much you can do with reggae. Balli did a good job with the genre though, and I do recommend American Dream for fans of Jack Johnson, Paul Wright, Matisyahu and reggae in general.
Street Date: July 26, 2011
*Track list:
01. American Dream (feat. Sonny Sandoval Of P.O.D.) (3:48)
02. We Won't Stop (3:49)
03. Louder (3:11)
04. Take My Love (2:43)
05. See What We Become (3:16)
06. Again and Again (3:46)
07. Favela (feat. Nengo Vieira) (4:58)
08. Twenty Seventeen (4:11)
09. All We Need Is Love (2:55)
10. Refuge (3:29)
11. You Are There (feat. Jenkins) (3:43)
12. Daisy's Song (4:18)
13. Again and Again (Remix) [Bonus Track] (4:20)
link: mediafire
