Get Your Music on Amazon!
Get Your Music - and everything else - on Amazon! All purchases made on Amazon through this link earn a commission for Jesusfreakhideout.com!

JFH Music Review


Joel Vaughn, Control, Vol. 1 - EP
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Joel Vaughn
Control, Vol. 1 - EP



Artist Info: Discography
Genre(s): Pop / Electronic
Album length: 5 tracks: 17 minutes, 33 seconds
Street Date: July 27, 2018


READER RATING:   


Over the course of his decade-long career, Texas native Joel Vaughn has supplied his fans with music via a series of EPs and full-length albums, with each of the two formats accounting for roughly half of his back catalog. His most recent long-player, 2016's EDM-tinged Kinetic, was a solid eight-song set pointing to an artist perched just on the verge of creating something truly memorable. But, the five-cut extended player that followed in its wake, 2017's Surrender, intermittently fetching though it was, ultimately wound up being more of a holding pattern than the expected great leap forward.

Not so with his latest outing, Control, Vol. 1. The winning leadoff number, "Pray It Up," starts things off by nimbly walking that ever-so-tenuous line between the dance and pop genres, serving up a combination of the two that's neither so funky that it couldn't be adapted to the Sunday morning worship service, nor so staid that it couldn't rouse the average concert-goer from their seats if played at the proper volume. The superb shuffling rhythms of "On Time" see the infectious groove of the imposing opening cut and go it one better. The power ballad, "Back Where I Started," dials the pace back a bit to allow listeners a closer, and welcome, look at Vaughn's soaring, semi-falsetto voice. And "Settle" may just be the best song that Jordan Feliz and Justin Bieber never co-wrote.

It bears noting that, more often than not, Vaughn seems as if he's standing at the periphery of really cutting loose, but never actually doing so. That said, far from sounding as if he's only half trying or phoning it in, this approach actually turns out to be the perfect complement to his music: soothing, mellow and ultimately engaging. To be sure, no matter how beat-heavy things get, one still gets the sense that Vaughn remains thoroughly in control of the proceedings, meting out his sharp, sturdy vocals in carefully measured doses that heighten, rather than take away from, the innate appeal of his compositions. A decided step up, in terms of consistency, from his last few releases, Control, Vol. 1 finds the singer in peak form, turning in an effort that, at long last, succeeds in bringing his undeniable underlying talent into its sharpest focus.

- Review date: 7/20/18, written by Bert Gangl of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Try Pop Culture Coffee!

 

. Record Label: DREAM Records
. Album length: 5 tracks: 17 minutes, 33 seconds
. Street Date: July 27, 2018
. Buy It: Apple Music
. Buy It: iTunes
. Buy It: Amazon Music (MP3)

  1. Pray It Up (3:19)
  2. On Time (2:46)
  3. Settle (3:07)
  4. Back Where I Started (3:08)
  5. Joy (4:19)

 

 JFH Album Sample Player

 



Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 

 

                 
Try Pop Culture Coffee!

Search JFH



This Tuesday, June 17, 2025
ALBUMS
Thee Alumni (Kaboose, m1L) God's Plan - EP [Polished Arrow]

This Friday, June 20, 2025
ALBUMS
Dan Bremnes The Hero - EP [Curb]
Dan Dean More [StowTown]
Will Kellum In My Secret Place - EP [Syntax]
Brandon Lake King Of Hearts (Full Deck Deluxe) [Provident]
Procyse, JusJames Brand New Mercies - EP [Polished Arrow]
The Swirling Eddies Let's Spin! (Collector's Edition CD) [Girder]
The Swirling Eddies Outdoor Elvis (Collector's Edition CD) [Girder]
The Swirling Eddies Zoom Daddy (Collector's Edition CD) [Girder]
Dr. Edward Daniel Taylor The Miracle Faith Telethon: 35th Anniversary Ed (Collector's Edition CD) [Girder]

SINGLES
Anike Watch Her Glow - Single [Reach]
Anathoth Elohim - Single [Charon Collective]
Sho Baraka Might Not Go - Single [Syntax]
bodie GOOD OLD DAYS - Single [Provident]
Boundless Before - Single [Integrity]
Peter Burton Jesus Over Everything - Single [Integrity]
Chris Caro So Long - Single [Syntax]
Aimee St. Croix Glory in the Waiting Room - Single [Xing]
CXMMXNS Praise Belongs: With All Of Heaven Edition - Single [Provident]
HIS Hypeman Stract Security - Single (independent)
Illustrate, Elan Brio Next To Him - Single (independent)
Influence Music Easy Surrender - Single (independent)
JusRzd Pull Up & Go ft. GB - Single [Syntax]
KDNS Room 42 - Single [Syntax]
Kelo Turf - Single [Syntax]
KingsPorch You Can Have it All - Single [BEC]
MotionPlus OMCL - Single [Polished Arrow]
Blessing Offor Real - Single [Capitol CMG]
Paul and Hannah McClure After Your Heart (Live) - Single [Bethel]
Rhymes in Harmony In His Presence - Single [Syntax]
Silent Reflection Everflame *[Tds Cam's band] - Single [Syntax]
Sanctus Real You Are I Am - Single [The Fuel]
Sound Street I Want to Know More About My Lord - Single [Sonlite]
Jordan St. Cyr Circles (feat. Riley Clemmons) - Single [BEC]

VINYL
IRONWRATH Master Storyteller (Double Vinyl Gatefold) Vinyl [Girder]

Next Friday, June 27, 2025
ALBUMS
7eventh Time Down We Praise You [BEC]
Matt Crocker interlude [Anotherland]
Jimmy Fortune The Seventh Seal [Gaither]
Roxanne Grace Road Trip - EP [DREAM]
Kutless The Seventh Seal - EP [BEC]
Rusty Shipp Cosmic Innuendo, Vol. II: Capsized Empire (independent)
SEU Worship A Forgiving God [Provident]

SINGLES
Blanca Right On Time - Single [Curb]
Landry Cantrell & Elenee sunshine & rainbows - Single [DREAM]
Tasha Layton Singing In the Dark - Single [BEC]
Patrick Mayberry Thank The Lord - Single [Provident]
Alexander Pappas A Great Awakening / Un Nuevo Despertar - Single [Integrity]
The Rocky Valentines Nat Song - Single [Velvet Blue]
Emilie Weiss Take Care (Studio Sessions) - Single [BEC]

DVD
Jimmy Fortune Songs Of An American Dreamer DVD [Gaither]



For all release dates, click here!
 

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images