After releasing two albums of soft, understated folk-pop aimed squarely at the Gray's Anatomy crowd, Joshua Radin loosens the reins on The Rock and the Tide, an album that features several upbeat rock songs scattered across an otherwise intimate track list. "I m starting over, so here we go", he sings on "Here We Go", his soft voice boosted by electric guitars, synthesizers, and a lush alternative rock arrangement. Most of the punchy numbers are located at the beginning of the album, and it s only during the homestretch that Radin reverts to the hushed, soft-spun acoustic numbers that filled his earlier albums. It s not that Radin sounds bad when he turns down the volume; he just sounds anonymous, with neither the vocal power nor the songwriting prowess to turn his ballads into something unique. The peppier material suits him best on this album, where songs like "Road to Ride On" and "Streetlight" contrast his affable croon (which never seems to rise above a speaking-voice decibel, almost as though Radin is afraid of waking the neighbors) with washes of instruments that are more than happy to make up for the lack in volume.

Oct 2010

From Cleveland via New York & LA, Joshua Radin is the uniquely word-of-mouth global success story that's just about to get a whole lot bigger with the release of his second album 'The Rock & The Tide', due in August.

Radin only turned to music after college – a friend gave a demo to a TV producer – who promptly used it in Scrubs in early 2004. Other Hollywood types found his music just as evocative, and soon various Radin songs were being heard 75 times on TV shows (Grey's Anatomy, Brothers & Sisters, American Idol) as well as movies (The Nanny Diaries, The Last Kiss) and ads. US superstar presenter Ellen Degeneres was so impressed by his music, that she requested he play at her wedding to the actress Portia Di Rossi.

His debut album Simple Times drew critical & popular acclaim, collaborating with producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliot Smith). His first single I'd Rather Be With You, received over 10,000 UK radio plays for his breakthrough hit 'I'd Rather Be With You' & reached #2 on the airplay chart.

• Billboard - "THE ROCK AND THE TIDE is all Radin in some of his most carefully nuanced and confident vocal performances yet."
• Uncut - 3 stars out of 5 -- "^E]xpansive, upbeat summery pop dynamism permeates most of these 10 songs."