One must wonder if somehow, somewhere, Tracey Chapman was involved in a cloning experiment that brought us 26-year-old Chris Bruni. With a distinctive voice that's somewhere on the spectrum between Dave Matthews and David Grey, Bruni deserves as wide an audience as he can find, and although his melodies fall onto the lighter end of things, his lyrics conjure up darker images and thoughts, dwelling as they do on the plight of the everyman in love, life and loss. With all that going for it, it would be a sin of the worst sort to condemn Bruni's debut album, Watch Me Burn, to a life in rotation on some random "Adult Contemporary" station somewhere. This is an album that deserves to be heard by everyone.

Album opener "Broken Window" has definite single potential, and offers up a perfect glimpse into Bruni's world with its simple arrangement, guitar and drum getting out of the way to let Bruni's voice dominate. Next in line is the title track, offering up pleading, apologetic lyrics, followed by the more hopeful and uplifting "Climbing a Mountain"; both tracks call to mind the aforementioned Chapman in their rhythms and vocal stylings. This is not to say that Bruni's vocals do all the work: track 5, "Gargoyle Juice," gives the listener a taste of Spanish-influenced guitar and rhythms that nicely supplement a chorus that asks the listener to "follow me down". Also worth noting is the album closer, a pretty, sad little song called "Songbird" which continues on beautifully for a full three minutes after Bruni stops singing. And don't miss Bruni's cover of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" -- where Jackson's version is heavy on the production and nearly a saga, this stripped-down, countrified version is less gospel, and much more personal.

Favorite Track: Track 11, "Songbird"

Michael Fiegel is a freelance writer and graphic designer. His diverse background includes journalism, radio copywriting, technical writing, game design and music reviewing. He is best known as the creator of the Internet cult sensation, Ninja Burger. He can be reached at aeon@aeforge.com or at his website, www.aeforge.com.