Something To Say [CD], Whiten, Blake, CD

Wielding a broken-glass vocal on self-penned songs that cut straight to the bone, 21-year-old Enchntmnt / Warner Records singer-songwriter Blake Whiten takes the next steps of an explosive early career on his full-length album debut, Something To Say, out July 3. Produced by Austin Shawn, the project finds Whiten's confessional instincts colliding with pitch-black alt-rock intensity, as sleek, dark-energy guitars and thundering drums back a splintered-soul vocal, hitting Whiten's raw Southern roots with a high-voltage electric current. Across 12 deeply personal songs, a threadbare emotional grit stitches together lyrics rooted in pain, while new energy matches the angst. Tracks like the gut-punch power-ballad "Barely Gettin' By," the clever "Bet On That," the sharp, hook-heavy "Boots (By the Wrong Bed)" and tender, album-closing Six Mile reflection "Time" show the result, as Whiten stays true to his roots and to himself, proving he's had Something To Say the entire time.