Location:
USA, NY

Category:
Folk / Pop / Singer/Songwriter

Try if you like:
Elton John, Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Adams

•   Not The One
•   Get Away
•   Disguised

Singer/Songwriter Mark Sanderlin is a native Oregonian now living and playing in New York. The One You Need marks Sanderlin's debut full-length album following up an EP of material he released about a year ago. Mark started playing the piano at age 10 and began composing and writing songs at 14. I couldn't find his current age though. He sounds quite young but his songs are quite well developed for a younger songwriter. 

The album opens with "Not The One", a bare bones track with mostly a mandolin and Mark's vocals. A nice introduction to his style, quite laid back pop/folk mix. He then builds nicely on it with "The Stonecutter" in which has a full arrangement with guitar, piano and even harmonica for good measure. Simple layered vocals back him up nicely. While this isn't the type of music I would choose to listen to on my own, I really found myself into this track. The following track, "Get Away", is a little darker with some really cool vocal melodies playing off each other with a simple guitar riff taking you through. A nice showcase of Mark's piano abilities and composition is "Bethlehem". The song "Disguised" almost lost me only on the sole fact that it was quite slow. Mark's voice shines on this one though.

I think most pop singer/songwriter fans should find something to enjoy in Sanderlin's album. You can tell that there wasn't too much effort put into the production but it is of the quality that you wouldn't turn it away on that alone. It's going to be a pleasure seeing where Mark takes his career from here. This is a very strong set of songs that is absolutely begging to be heard on radio.