Dylan LeBlanc successfully combined his fragile songs with country and West-Coast pop on previous albums. On his fourth album Renegade, he changes course somewhat. This time it sounds much heavier. The West Coast influences in particular remain audible, but now recall more memories of raw early albums by and . Especially the volume knobs of the guitars are turned open, while LeBlanc sometimes dares
… to lash out with his lyrical tenor voice. This son of country musician and songwriter James LeBlanc, who hung out at the famous Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama as a child, seems to want to shake off his musical legacy. With Renegade's misty 70s rock sound, he is more likely to connect with indie rock acts such as and . He does this with gusto. (MR)more