4 out of 5

Label: Asian Man Records

Produced by: Chris Murray

Crisply produced by Murray, ‘Watch’ is all down to Dan P.’s skills as a crooner and songwriter, 12 tracks of sweet and fun tunes that lean more toward Dan’s ska side than his rock influences, a la the ‘classics’ ska sound of the last couple mu330 releases.  The only thing missing is the touch of oddness or snark that trickled into his first couple solo outings and 330’s peak ‘Chumps’ / ‘Crab’ / self-titled trio of albums… ‘Watch’ is pretty much all straight-forward, parent friendly tunes about lost loves and underdogs.  Still, you get the quiet observational stuff Dan’s always been good at – the swirling symbolism of ‘fan’ – and the can’t-help-but-sing-along anthems like ‘Mess it Up’ and ‘Quit On Me.’  And here and there are some nice surprises, like the production flourishes on ‘Footdown’ and dub touches to ‘Sweat For It,’ plus a swooning redo of ‘Set Sail.’  The Bricks are spot on with their instrumental support, and Shannon Tombs duet on ‘One Reason’ is all quirky cute.  But again, despite this definitely feeling like a full, polished group, it all comes down to Dan: his pleasantly passionate delivery, his confident strum, and his willingness to work with recognizable genre tropes and then drum them up with just the necessary dash of rock panache.