New Zealand's Daniel Gannaway has been releasing albums since 1998, accumulating praise for his melodically laid-back compositions. His relaxedness is no surprise -- he's a surfer and quite a nomad, having lived in London, Amsterdam and upstate New York. Darling One Year deftly balances orthodoxy and experimentation. The former surfaces mostly in the songwriting, while the latter comes up in the production. Gannaway is one of those artists who isn't afraid to go all out in the studio; he lays on the effects and overdubs with a trowel, onstage translation be damned. These are occasionally distracting (the title track could've used a touch less distortion on the vocals) but usually quite effective; the same track also features a harmonica that's actually not annoying. Gannaway has a harmonious yet rather conversational voice, for which he devises engagingly familiar melodies. His lyrics are pretty, though not overly remarkable, and further effaced by his indolent singing style... but he conveys a dry humor with songs like "Student Debt Sucks". Like many singer/songwriters, Gannaway is at his best during more contemplative numbers, like the lovely "In the North Sea" or the meandering "Julie", in which a sex-charged rhythm complements subtle electronic bleeps and phased guitar and vocals. His attempts at rocking out tend to stray more toward radioland. Ironically, the disc's most Dave Matthews-like track begins with the line "Do we have to do this conventionally?" And while Darling One Year's production is inventive, it's often overambitious, resulting in an unpolished feel.

Daniel Gannaway is a talented guy with a problem: he's too unassuming to be edgy, but his avant-gardeness is a bit too obvious for him to appeal to the Dockers-clad masses. Still, there are a lot of people with the taste to appreciate a hummable tune that sounds a little bit different. With a slightly tighter rein on his songwriting and the ability to fully sparkle up his interesting recording ideas, Gannaway could win a lot of hearts.