Donavon Frankenreiter - Glow

When Donavon Frankenreiter declares "You never know what's going to happen... you never catch the same wave twice" he could be speaking of either surfing or music, both of which rank at the top of his obsessions and professions. Signed to fellow mellow-surf-rocker Jack Johnson's label for his his 2004 debut, Frankenreiter's shuffling folk/rock has gone through the paces, moving from acoustic ramblings to the soulful and bluesy full-band arrangements of his 2008 album Pass It Around with guests Ben Harper and G. Love.

Glow, his fourth album arriving October 5, mixes up the ingredients once again with producer and collaborator Mark Weinberg finding a nice balance of laid back folk melodies and uptempo movers and shakers, sweetening the pot with strings, keyboards and swaying beats that occasionally drift into a more raucous rock groove. In the end, the aptly-titled Glow is still trademark, raspy Frankenreiter -- unpretentious and disarmingly heartfelt music from a 37-year-old man who uses "bitchin'" to describe a particular rhythm and names his two kids Hendrix and Ozzy. "The first thing I do is grab a surfboard or guitar if I'm depressed or bummed," he says. "I think that's why a lot of my songs are positive and uplifting, because those two things make me happy".

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Donavon Frankenreiter - "Glow" (from the album Glow)