An accomplished male vocalist collaborating with other musicians to cover some of pop’s most famous songs? It’s by no means an original concept but when that vocalist is Ryohei, his unique style and spin on each track is just enough to push it over the top…it’s pretty good.

Japanese singer Yamamoto Ryohei has come a long was since his debut with m-flo and his first solo album in 2004. He’s endured a change in record companies (Warner to Rhythm Zone) and a stage name change (Yamamoto Ryohei shortened to simply Ryohei with his move to Rhythm Zone).

Having just released his LP titled ReListen in February of 2007, the smooth-voiced singer is back with new material. Released in summer ’07, Ryohei’s latest work, Cavaca means and is described as “Catch the Various Catchy compiled by Ryohei”. Confusing? I thought so.

Cavaca is essentially a compilation of cover songs and collaborations by Ryohei. Teaming up with such artists as Clazziquai Project and Kentaro Takizawa, Ryohei performs a diverse array of songs including “You Gotta Be” (Des’ree), “Sweet Soul Revue” (Pizzicato Five), “Lately” (Stevie Wonder), “Human Nature” (Michael Jackson), “Georgy Porgy” (Toto), and “She Will Be Loved” (Maroon 5).

The performances of each song are rather refreshing. The backing tracks mostly stay uniformed with a pop/R&B/electronic vibe (much like Ryohei’s ReListen album) and Ryohei’s vocals remain trademarkedly smooth and well, beautiful. It’s a good effort indeed

While you may not like some of the original songs featured, Ryohei may just convince you otherwise. Cavaca is 8 tracks of covered, remixed goodness.

“You Gotta Be” (remember this song and its 90s-ness?):
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• Buy Cavaca — it’s cheap
• Official site (with album info and audio samples)
• Video of Ryohei talking about Cavaca