Reviewed by Tim Holden

Toby Mac's third solo outing continues to chart the rise of this phenomenal pop/rock/rap talent. With five nominations in this year's Dove Awards, '(Portable Sounds)' has proven to be Toby's best selling album since departing from dc Talk and it is easy to hear why. The music is of a stunning quality, the songwriting well observed, excellently arranged and produced and with a consistency across the album that comes from only collaborating with two other producers this time. However, do not expect '(Portable Sounds)' to be 13 songs sounding the same. The band behind Toby Mac goes by the wonderful name of Diverse City and the musical styles certainly are diverse. There is an underlying rock groove with some great rap/DJ lines - as would be expected from Toby - and the sound is always full of interest, from strings to stunning drum and bass lines and always with complex vocal lines weaving in and out of each other and the instrument melodies. The album is so full of life that it is very hard to not pump up the volume and hit the repeat button. This Limited Deluxe Edition comes with an extra DVD with a set of cool interviews and five of Toby's short form videos from the latest, "Boomin'", through to the older "Irene", "Get This Party Started" and "Extreme Days".

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