If nothing else, New York soul pretender Case has at least grasped one of the essentials of his chosen genre. Open Letter, his third album, is a ruthlessly confessional work, taking the form of a series of missives to people in his life. Fortunately, Case's touch is light enough to engage more often than oppress. "A Song For Skye", dedicated to Case's daughter, could have been insufferably mawkish; instead, its honesty is unaffected enough to be touching. Case's music is modern R&B, competent without ever quite being innovative; it can be imagined that getting to work with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (they produced No Regrets) was, for him, something of a dream realised. Thankfully, it works. --Andrew Mueller