Overabundances of white male singers aspire to sound like soul legends Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, often with embarrassing results. James Morrison, however, has soul. The British crooner’s new album, produced by Suede’s Bernard Butler (who worked, expressively, with Duffy on her retro-soul Rockferry album), is a smooth and bluesy collection of tunes, including a poppy gospel jam with R’n’B girl next door Jessie J entitled “Up.” Some of Morrison’s past hits, like the orchestral, optimistic “Wonderful World” and introverted, self-assuring ballad “Undiscovered”, are echoed on this record. His new song “Right by Your Side” has a slow but relaxed groove, sans drums, reminiscent of early Sam Cooke tracks. On the album’s title track, “The Awakening,” Morrison gingerly presses a country beat laced in bittersweet vocals. Morrison’s tracks all exhibit his vocal range; he goes from whispering to shouting, crying to purring. A somber tone is sprinkled throughout, but Morrison’s raspy, light tenor vocals are just as soothing as they always have been. This album does not disappoint classic Morrison fans, but might sound too mainstream to win over indie lovers. The lyrical poetry could use improvement, but that’s not Morrison’s gift: his voice sounds miraculous. A young musician and a true talent, James Morrison has yet to take the world by storm, but he has a lot of time. For now, I’ll just listen to my copy of the new record and wait.