As a title, The Speed of Now, Vol. 1 suggests Keith Urban is thoroughly inhabiting the present moment -- a tricky task at any time but one that was particularly fraught in September 2020, when the world was still in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with some unexpected downtime, Urban polished off his sequel to 2018s Graffiti U, completing about a third of the record after the world went into lockdown. Unlike, say, Taylor Swifts folklore, The Speed of Now, Vol. 1 (as of its release, no second volume was planned; shades of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1), does not feel contemplative or introspective. Even at its slowest moments, its a bright, cheerful affair, one anchored with lite R&B rhythms and bearing a sunny disposition. All this means that The Speed of Now rarely feels like a country album, at least in the conventional sense. Some of the themes and some of the melodies carry a distinctly country imprint and when Eric Church stops by to sing a couple of verses on We Were (added as a bonus track here, directly following Urbans solo version), he sounds welcome but when P!nk duets on One Too Many, she sounds at home. Urban feels very comfortable navigating the territory that separates pop, country, and soul, happy to emphasize the softer side of each. He winds up with a modern sound -- its a busy digital production, filled with skittering drum tracks and thick overdubs -- but The Speed of Now, Vol. 1 almost feels old-fashioned in how it turns 2010s sounds into adult contemporary. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rovi