After hearing the catchy, upbeat song “Riptide,” fans of Vance Joy have been awaiting the Aussie’s debut album. Dream Your Life Away will please followers of his four released songs that have been circling the internet and radio stations everywhere.

The sounds are saturated with acoustic guitar and Vance Joy’s sweet, pensive voice. “Riptide,” even with its Michelle Pfeiffer reference, will not win over anyone with its lyrics, but it rides on its strength of delivery and easy harmony.

Upon viewing the video and interpreting the lyrics for the track “From Afar,” we learn of an adolescent male enamored by a companion of the same sex. “You told me, ‘Boy look the other way’/ You told me, ‘Boy hide those hands’/ But I’ve been living on the crumbs of your love/ and I’m starving now,” illustrating a rapt love for another human being.

The album does not sit with the pop culture that the hit “Riptide” does. With “Georgia,” Vance Joy shifts up rhythms in just under four minutes, delivering the unexpected highlight of this impressive debut album.

• Album: Dream Your Life Away
• Artist: Vance Joy
• Label: Atlantic Recording
• Songs: (1) Winds of Change (2) Mess Is Mine (3) Wasted Time (4) Riptide (5) Who Am I (6) From Afar (7) We All Die Trying To Get It Right (8) Georgia (9) Red Eye (10) First Time (11) All I Ever Wanted (12) Best That I Can (13) My Kind of Man