Noisy Neighbors

New sounds from close to home

September 16, 2011

WILL DAILEY & THE RIVALS

WILL DAILEY & THE RIVALS

Boston singer-songwriter Will Dailey’s third full-length is an album that sounds absolutely determined to, well, will its hooks into your head. “Maybe I’ll get my big, big break/ When my good intentions are repaid,’’ Dailey muses on the brightly bubbly “Counting on Karma.’’ “I’ve done my time/ I’ve paid it forward … I’m counting on karma to win you over.’’

He’s talking about a girl, of course. But the sentiment could also apply to what this onetime leader of local rockers Mappari hopes will happen with his latest effort. As Dailey has proved with a string of albums and EPs (not to mention a pair of Boston Music Awards), persistence pays off.

For nearly a decade now, Dailey has doled out carefully calibrated, heart-on-sleeve pop songs ripe for summer soundtrack sing-alongs. Here, a string-dappled burst of Phil Spector-esque production greets us on the opener, “How Good It Feels.’’ The track, like the autobiographical “Big Bright Sun’’ that follows, comes replete with rolling drum fills and vocal “woh oh-ohs’’ ripped right out of the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.’’

It’s a strong start to a tightly focused, if occasionally focus-group safe, collection that toggles between ephemeral pop-rock pleasures (“Best Friend’’) and a bland sincerity that can feel forced (“Loved You First’’). The closing “Victory’’ is a Bon Jovi-style call-to-arms anthem that finds Dailey pronouncing: “I’ve paid my dues/ I did the time/ Now victory/ It will be mine.’’

Like everything else here, Dailey sounds determined to make it happen. (Out next Tuesday)

JONATHAN PERRY

Will Dailey & the Rivals play at Newbury Comics in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace on Tuesday. They will also host an album-release party at the House of Blues Foundation Room on Sept. 24 starting at9 p.m. Go to www.willdailey.com for details.