California singer/songwriter Stephen Sanchez landed an unlikely hit in 2021 with "Until I Found You," a lovelorn ballad cloaked in vintage reverb and 1950s nostalgia. An echo from the original era of the teen idol, it fused the early pop pathos of Paul Anka with glowing Everly Brothers harmonies and climbed its way onto charts around the globe. On his debut album, Angel Face, Sanchez reverse engineers a loose concept album around his hit, keeping up the guise of his adopted musical era. Through songs like the soulful "Evangeline" and the torchy "Be More" he sketches out a narrative involving a '50s troubadour in love with the femme fatale girlfriend of a mob boss. The results are sonically pleasing, and Sanchez's voice rises to the occasion, moving effortlessly between the raucous Jerry Lee Lewis rock & roll of "Shake" and the softer Roy Orbison croon of "Caught in a Blue." At times, though, Angel Face feels a bit like a revue or jukebox musical, faithfully re-creating an idyllic musical era through the rosy lens of the present. And because he is on a major label, the production, courtesy of Ian Fitchuk (Kasey Musgraves, Gus Dapperton), also keeps one foot in modern pop, an aesthetic compromise that in a way breaks the spell. Ultimately, it's the singles that keep Angel Face interesting, an ironic twist, given that the period he fetishizes most certainly favored singles over LPs. So, in a sense, he has hit his mark squarely

1 Something About Her 3:43
2 Evangeline 2:57
3 I Need You Most of All 3:10
4 Only Girl 2:39
5 Be More 3:51
6 Until I Found You 2:57
7 Shake 1:54
8 High 2:41
9 Doesn't Do Me Any Good 3:52
10 No One Knows 3:59
     with Laufey
11 Caught in a Blue 2:59
12 Death of the Troubadour 1:55
13 Send My Heart With a Kiss 2:27