Josh Groban
All That Echoes
(Reprise Records)

Dear Josh Groban, I owe you an apology. I have known of your music for the past decade, but with your easy listening, soaring vocals, I have never given your music a chance. I figured if you could hit operatic notes, you were obviously talented, but maybe not my style. But your latest album, All That Echoes, has hit the top of the Billboard charts, and I can see why. I like you, Josh, and I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner.

On paper, All That Echoes seems like it wouldn’t work. It’s a combination of original songs and covers, modern and traditional, English language and other. However, it does hold together. It does so well. Groban’s voice and string accompaniment is just so damn charming that it’s impossible to refuse the catchiness.

I did expect to have uplifting songs like lead single “Brave” (“You can’t hide forever from the thunder/Look into the storm and feel the rain”) and more operatic offerings like “E Ti Promettero,” a duet featuring the lovely Laura Pausini. But this rises above the anticipated. Groban’s cover of “Falling Slowly,” made famous by the film and musical Once and The Swell Season, is string-heavy and delicate, stripped back to a solo performance from a duet. This leads into another Irish track, the traditional folk song, “She Moved Through the Fair.” It’s a clever transition and one that made me pay attention.

As far as covers go, I was most struck by “Hollow Talk,” with its lyrics like “Spatial movements and butterflies/Shadows scatter without a fight.” Clearly this is a man who’s not just out to affect the mom sorts. His covers of “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” and “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” are likewise individual and touching. I’m sorry I overlooked you before, Josh. You can sing to me any time you’d like.