Music Review

Avant (2008)

EW's GRADE
B

Details Release Date: Dec 09, 2008; Lead Performance: Avant; Genre: R&B

''I'm gonna need your undivided attention,'' Avant informs his lady in ''When It Hurts,'' the lead single from the singer's fifth studio album. That's every bit as true of this R&B crooner's music as it is of his romancing: Avant is packed full of sturdy, no-frills soul tunes that at first seem to be background-ready — until you start to listen close and hear the way his singing complicates club-dude machismo with sensitive-guy melancholy. ''Break Ya Back'' definitely overdoes it with the bedroom bravado (''When we get up in the sack/I'm gonna break your back/In a good way''). But mostly Avant proves that it’s possible to be both a lover and a fighter. B

Download This: Listen to songs from the new album on the singer’s MySpace

Originally posted Dec 03, 2008 Published in issue #1025 Dec 12, 2008 Order article reprints

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