Clean

I love pop. I love melodies. I don't want to hear about your child abuse. So thank Christ for David Steinhart, who makes great pop, not crap-radio pop. Remember great pop? Lulling melodies, dulcet voices sans sweetening? "Clean" is just what it claims to be, stripped-down, thoughtful pop that never gets coy. When he sings "This is just a sad love song," he's backed by an optimistic Burt Bacharach-style vibraphone that belies his claim. Steinhart's sensitive-guy approach and his experiences on both ends of breakups give you songs to identiy with no matter where you are in your love life. If you're wondering what happened to Steinhart's last band, Smart Brown Handbag, he explains it on the short 'n' sweet opening track, whose chorus goes, "Not so smart arter all." But it's devoid of bitterness; in fact, the whole CD resonates with the feeling you get when you get over someone faster than you expected to.-Ruth Reynolds

... well maybe it's summer in most of North America. My voice is always biased and with that I am easily found encouraging all to check out David's music. At times I miss the band sound of Smart Brown Handbag but David's influence is so heavy that be it a solo record or full "band", one still gets a similar essence. A few weeks ago I heard the Doors while visiting Manhattan and it felt right. David's music, though not Doors-like, also strikes me as that sort of "soundtrack for anything" music and thus making it truly valuable.

I recently discovered Dave Steinhart while surfing around thenet looking for acoustic songwriters. I found him at (web site)I got the album, and I was so happy that I'd done the research! "From Now On" is the sweetest sarcastic tune I've heard in a long time.This album is SMOOOOOVE, and if you want to do a test run on it, you should go get free MP3's at his web site. That's what I did, and now I have a new 'hero'. ;-)I doubt you'll ever see this review, David, but if you do - THANKS.-- Kenny