Ben Sollee, Daniel Martin Moore Combine for the Sleeper, Dear Companion

Dear Companion is easy to like. In fact, there's nothing to hate. These acoustic numbers are as agreeable as Saturday-morning pancakes. And Sollee's cello rounds off the pointed corners of an already inoffensive record. If you're trying to drown out a conversation behind you, this hybrid of a '60s and '70s singer/songwriter also-ran, accompanied by a who's who from the string section closet will get the job done. If you're a frequent flier, this is the #1 album to bring on an airplane in 2010. But when you wake up in Denver, you'll likely have no memory of the 37 minutes of recorded music that put you there.