Album review: John Mayer’s redemptive ‘Paradise Valley’

Close your eyes. Erase your mind. Forget about Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and the various extracurricular activities that have hobbled singer-guitarist-romantic John Mayer’s reputation off the playing field. Breathe, and think about the guitar while inhaling fresh air and electrified guitar licks. As a Wyoming wind blows through your hair, imagine that the John Mayer Cruise never happened.

For many -- but by no means all -- such a Mayer reboot is necessary. Doing so in earnest before popping on his new album, “Paradise Valley,� will offer payback for those yearning for peaceful, well-imagined guitar rock as earlier crafted by bands including the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Bros., the Grateful Dead and “Nashville Skyline�-era Bob Dylan. The guy’s apologized for his past media indulgences, and “Paradise Valley� makes a strong case that those of us overly annoyed should let it go.

Eleven songs that hit the mark where last year’s overwrought “Born and Raised� mostly missed, “Paradise Valley� is a more lyrically restrained and less generically reflective affair. And musically, it’s bigger, more accomplished and more approachable.

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At its best, as on “Dear Marie,� Mayer acknowledges his fame with a measure of embarrassment in a musical letter to a former high school sweetheart. (He even confesses to searching for her online.) Opener “Wildfire� will have fans of Little Feat and the Dead giddy. And the mid-album interlude of “Wildfire� features a gorgeous turn by vocalist Frank Ocean, who conjures a striking image of a woman jumping from the Eiffel Tower while Mayer harmonizes. The closer, “On the Way Home,� describes the return home after what seems like a pretty awesome summer vacation.

Musically, Mayer has seldom sounded more relaxed, and has rarely written guitar works as elastic and forgiving. “Who You Love� has the feel of an old soul classic, and producer Don Was records it with a claustrophobic tightness. Featuring pedal steel, a nearly liquid Mayer guitar strum and an impressive duet with a surprisingly real-sounding Perry, the song shows an artist both relaxed and well-practiced. The man’s fingers have seldom seemed so nimble.

That doesn’t mean you don’t sometimes have to roll your eyes. “I’m a little lost at sea/I’m a little birdy in a big old tree,� he sings on the piano ballad “I Will Be Found (Lost at Sea),� a song whose telegraphed rhymes and monochromatic vocal offer ample ammo for critics. Overall too, there are a few too many Edward Sharpe-suggestive sing-along “ooh-ooh’s� for my taste. “Badge and Gun� feels like it was written while he was reading Cormac McCarthy’s “Border Trilogy,� and imagines a renegade cowboy heading away. It even features percussion that suggests a horse clomping down a dirt road. Ouch.

Regardless, Mayer the musician is in charge here, and he keeps his peacocking in check throughout “Paradise Valley.� The best part: When he does reveal his instrumental flair, he does so as someone whose natural-born skill warrants the display.

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John Mayer

“Paradise Valley�

(Columbia)

Three stars (out of four)

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