Kevon Edmonds Who Knew CD

Audio Mixer: Rafa Sardina.
Photographer: Lasalle Barnes.
A former member of chart-topping `90s R&B sensation After 7, Kevon Edmonds embarked on a solo career in 1999, releasing his debut, 24-7. Given the promise of that album--helped in no small part by guest production spots from such A-list talent as Walter Afanasieff, Robin Thicke, and Edmond's own brother, crooner-turned-producer Babyface--it's hard to believe the singer waited nearly a decade to record its follow-up, WHO KNEW. Unsurprisingly, the album finds Edmond working within a changed musical landscape, his sensitive, yearning high tenor recalling romantic balladeers of yore rather than the aggressive, sexually-forward styles of his contemporaries. That sensitivity manages to keep him in good stead on odes to monogamy such as "Angels" and the title track, an airy, piano-driven serenade that plays almost as if it was custom written for weddings. But the most robust reflection of WHO KNEW's dreamy pop-R&B appears on "Oh," a sweeping, strings-driven swoon that puts a fine, resonant point onto Edmond's emotive pleas.
Despite releasing his first solo album ten years prior, Kevon Edmonds picks up where he left off, updating his sound while (for the most part) avoiding the sonic tricks used on most mainstream R&B releases in 2009. Who Knew, the singer's second solo album, is a brief set involving some assistance from two of his nephews -- songwriter David Edmonds and multi-instrumentalist/producer Jason Edmonds -- and it is heavy on warm ballads, enlivened by a handful of midtempo tracks that are light and breezy. Longtime fans who waited for the After 7 vocalist to spring out from behind the scenes might be dismayed that the album is not more substantial, whether in terms of length or variety, but it is one of the year's more likeable adult contemporary R&B releases, more concerned with songcraft than showmanship. ~ Andy Kellman