Seraphina Lotkhamnga on November 29th, 2011

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Leave it to a white boy from Chewelah, Wash., with nerdy red glasses to disguise a letter addressing politics as a love song in the style of D’Angelo. In fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a first-time listener already mistook 24-year-old Allen Stone for the infamous soul singer. But even with heavy influences that range from Stevie Wonder and Sam Cooke to Maxwell and Prince, Stone’s self-titled sophomore album is taking him beyond the typical singer-songwriter scene. Stone’s rise from his humble beginnings as son of a preacher man in an eastern Washington hamlet (pop. 2,607) to the top of the charts and sold-out venues (all this with a self-released album) has also happened with good reason. Not only is every note from Stone’s mouth pitch-perfect and astonishingly raw, but the young musician has the skill to impressively seduce listeners with lyrics like “All you do is push, pull, tear” in “Unaware,” even if he is actually singing about the national deficit.

||| Download: “Celebrate Tonight”

||| Live: Allen Stone plays Friday at the Echo.