Resident orthodox Jewish rapper Matisyahu decides to shed a bit of the dancehall influences and accent on his latest release, Light, which takes a decidedly more rock and roll turn. The unexpected and welcome surprise of the success of his last album, Youth, introduced the mainstream audience to his reggae-vocals, dub sound, hip hop, beatboxing, and hints of Jewish cantor. Breaking free of the accent and aesthetic Matisyahu has been playing up until now allows the rapper to not only add ’singer’ to his repertoire, but to perhaps more freely express himself through rock melodies and straight rap rhymes. This openness to radical changes in genres within the same song are most evident on ‘Darkness Into Light’whether this works well is up for debate, however. It’s clear that Matisyahu shines when it comes to the lighter dub sounds we’re used to, where he can display his quick-witted flow and beatboxing skills, rather than the emo-rock whining that just seems strange coming from him. He does find an appropriate balance on album opener ‘Smash Lies,’ ‘Thunder,’ and ‘On Nature.’ He throws one in for the ladies with a breezy number entitled ‘I Will Be Light:’ disguising itself as a tender love song, it in fact calls upon the melancholy that underlies failing relationships. Whether Light will be as commercially popular and well-received as his previous effort is shaky, but the album does assert some level of staying-power and’in the very least’shows that Matisyahu isn’t a one-trick pony as some might have thought.

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