Review | John Mayer’s The Village Sessions

The Village Sessions is John Mayer’s EP where he takes some great songs off of his latest studio release Continuum, retools them and records their acoustic versions. The energy of the songs can go from being very emotionally raw such as “In Repair”, very smooth and laid back like “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” or can be simply a fun acoustic take on an original like “Waiting for the World to Change” (recorded with Ben Harper) and “Good Love is on the Way” (the latter being the only song from the Trio’s Try album). I don’t really know why he put it together, but part of me likes to think that despite Mayer becoming a an electric guitar god, he still has a big soft spot for the acoustic guitar. But unlike the rhythm heavy progression of his first album Room For Squares, these songs translate some of Mayer’s solos and riffs into an acoustic format.

If Continuum is Mayer’s electric blues for the pop world, then The Village Sessions is a combination of his love for the blues with his talented acoustic guitar playing. Leaving Continuum as the album you listen to when feeling mellow and The Village Sessions what you put on when you’re lying in bed contemplating your life plans.