Sean Rowe’s voice brings power to compelling new set

“The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights” by Sean Rowe (Fluff & Gravy Records)

Singer-songwriter Sean Rowe’s big voice is part of the reason his new album has heft, but it’s not the only one.

The new album opens with “What Are We Now” a mellow but muscular number that Rowe (rhymes with “how”) acknowledges was influenced by the pulsating urgency of Radiohead’s landmark album “In Rainbows,” though it doesn’t sound like a knockoff.

After that come two of the album’s best cuts, “To Make It Real,” which starts off gently but rises to a plaintive plateau, and “Little Death,” which features a tumbledown, piano-based chorus that gives it a celebratory feel reminiscent of early Bruce Springsteen. With lyrics that could pass for a New Year’s resolution about making a new start, the song ends with a flourish of horns that doesn’t undermine the Springsteen comparison.

Still, the album takes flight on the strength of Rowe’s voice. Almost a growl at times, it falls somewhere between George Ezra and Richard Thompson, with maybe a hint of Tom Waits.

Ultimately, though, Rowe doesn’t sound like anybody else — and that’s what cinches this as a dynamic new album, and Rowe as an artist on the rise.