Philadelphia-based folk-soul crooner Lee favors the sort of acoustic adult-contemporary settings that soundtrack Starbucks outlets nationwide. Supply and Demand, like his 2005 Amos Lee debut, is built out of gentle guitar, careful percussion, and thoughtful piano. His topics, on the other hand, aren’t exactly mellow. In “Freedom,” a mid-tempo shuffle with backing vocals by jazz-folk chanteuse Lizz Wright, he points out that “freedom is seldom found by beating someone to the ground.” “Long Line of Pain,” a stripped-down ballad featuring pedal-steel whiz Greg Leisz, opens with the admission that “my family’s suffered greatly for my gain.” (There’s also plenty of the singer-songwriter’s stock in trade, heartbreak; in “Skipping Stone,” he laments that a lover has “left me for something more sure.”) At least he doesn’t make a big deal out of the friction between his words and his music, and that gives this release an understated gravity.
Amos Lee | Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville | October 29 | 617.931.2000
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