Matisyahu - Light

Few artists make an impact as complete as the one Matisyahu made with his Top 40 smash "King Without a Crown", the song announced-a Hasidic Jewish musician from New York City singing reggae songs about his religious devotion. Fans responded to this one- of-a-kind voice, too, driving Youth, Matisyahu's Grammy- nominated 2006 studio disc, to the top spot on Billboard's reggae albums chart. Light is anything but safe. Produced by David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Sublime, the Strokes), the 14-track collection covers a dizzying amount of stylistic ground, from hard-edged Dancehall ("Smash Lies") and Ska-inflected New Wave and Ska-inflected New Wave ("We Will Walk") to laidback pop-rock ("So Hi So Lo") and acoustic folk-soul ("I Will Be the Light"). While reggae is far from absent here-see the old-school toasting in "Motivate"Light finds Matisyahu edging away from his comfort zone into more daring territory.