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Love Behind the Melody is the sophomore effort of Maryland-grown soul singer Raheem Devaughn, a buzz worthy artist championed by the likes of Alicia Keys and producer Scott Storch. While he has already enjoyed a certain degree of success from his 2005 debut The Love Experience, this latest album could finally bring him above the radar.

There’s markedly more high-profile production on Love Behind the Melody, an obvious attempt at reaching a broader, more radio-friendly audience. There’s no disappointment, however, because Devaughn makes sure to not compromise his sound even as he at times adopts a more mainstream approach. The R&B landscape - particularly with respects to males - has been fairly bleak as of late, which is probably why this album seems to shine so brightly.

There’s the obvious old-school influences like Marvin Gaye (Energy) and Stevie Wonder (Butterflies), but with a new-school execution. The album’s first single, neo-soul tribute Woman, pairs Devaughn’s smooth falsetto with equally smooth beats and simplistic but memorable lyrics. It’s good, but not as impressive as throwback Mo Better. The earnest love song is nearly eight minutes long, too much for radio, but so enjoyable that the length is irrelevant. Devaughn even brings back the charm of the spoken word solo (think the heavy-hearted intro to The Manhattans Kiss and Say Goodbye), which pleasantly took me back to a childhood spent listening to my parents’ old soul records.

Even where I expected Devaughn to fail, he never really did. Take Customer, a light and twinkly slo-jam that takes much of its lyrical inspiration from Burger King slogan “you can have it your way.” It sounds ridiculous even as I write about it, but somehow it works in a slightly silly finger-snapping way.

Or imagine my incredulity when I discovered he sampled the holy grail of ubiquitous black soul, The Temptations My Girl, and had the nerve to turn it into club anthem Friday (Shut the Club Down) complete with T-Pain references. I wanted to hate it, but couldn’t; it might even by my favorite. The point is this - Raheem Devaughn is a welcome reminder that popular modern soul can be catchy and substantive, classy and sexy in all the right places.