Another quick review:
Dovid Gabay’s latest album is mostly pop styled, heavy on the synth, and chock-full of repetitive, catchy songs. The songs are mostly ok, fun and catchy enough to become really popular. But, in my humble opinion, Gabay’s voice doesn’t lend itself to this kind of music, and the album ends up being more grating than fun to listen to.
Hakol Letovah and Boreh Olam are probably the best of the bunch, but would have been far better on a Benny Friedman/Gertner album. Ozer is so repetitive, it gets annoying very fast, while Neilech manages to stay listenable – but only barely.
Moneh starts of sounding like someone forgot the words to Boruch Hagever and just used Didoh Beih. I appreciate the song for its use of more imaginative interpretative lyrics rather than just endlessly repeating pesukim. The lyrics could still use some work, but it is fun. I would prefer hearing it from 8th Day only, and having Gabay stay out of it.
Osin Teshuvah sounds like it was pulled from an Eli Gerstner/Chevrah album. In this instance, Gabay is a vocal upgrade ;-)
This is not a knock on Gabai’s singing - he is a fine singer. It’s a knock on the pairing of his voice and sound with these songs.