He is subtle, yet surprisingly powerful with his inspiring lyrics. He has the soul of Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. With his raspy voice, he wins the hearts of young women, and a few men, everywhere he walks. Undiscovered and flying low under the radar in the United States, he is James Morrison.

Born and raised in the U.K., his debut song, “You Give Me Something” (2006) made him fifth in the U.K. and first in New Zealand. However, Morrison has struggled to catch on in the States. His first album was released two years ago and was titled, “Undiscovered.” Irony had it be the case that in the U.S., Morrison came up with an accurate title for his album.

“I was trying to find new artists who were unknown, so I looked him up on iTunes and bought his CD,” said junior Ricky DeClercq. “He has so much soul and his songs are really well-written.”

On Sept. 30, “Songs for You, Truths for Me” was released in the U.S. Morrison has once again been able to communicate the depths of his soul with songs like “You Make it Real” and “Nothing Ever Hurt Like You.”

“You Make it Real” has a similar feel to “You Give Me Something,” a song about true love. He sings of a man who finally realizes what he was missing in his life – the girl of his dreams (really, the girl of reality). The key to this song, aside from Morrison’s great voice, is the sound of the violins behind the guitar and drums during the climax.

“Nothing Ever Hurt Like You” has a more up-tempo beat, funk-like, which gets the listener wanting to break out and dance. Beware: listen to this song off-campus.

“He’s got a great funky side, but also turns up the romantic pop ballad beautifully,” said DeClercq. “His songs always seem to put me into a good mood.” Although “Nothing Ever Hurt Like You” seems to be a break up song at first listen, it is about the plea of a man to get back with his woman.

Whether you just had your heart ripped out, broken and thrown on the ground to be stepped on by the one you love, or you have a new crush and are in the infatuation stage, Morrison will help those feelings blossom. Although I believe that true peace comes from above, I find that Morrison helps me celebrate or cope with my love life’s occurrences. He reaches into the abyss of one’s soul that communicates, “That’s exactly how I’m feeling!”

However, there is a certain crowd to which Morrison might not be appealing. If you are a person that thinks/feels the Lord is calling you to celibacy, then Morrison won’t do much for you, sorry. If this applies to you and you decide to listen to him, who then leads you to love somebody, I bear no responsibility in the case that I am accused of leading someone away from the Lord’s plan.

You can check out James Morrison at www.jamesmorrisonmusic.com or listen to 30-second snippets on iTunes.