John Mayer

You can thank the pandemic for John Mayer’s eighth studio album. He has said he wrote the songs to wrap listeners in the sonic comforter of soft rock. If you don’t like soft rock, you can blame the pandemic for one more thing.

Mayer kicks off the 10-track “Sob Rock” with a gem: “Last Train Home,” a throwback guitar-and-synth rocker with Maren Morris on background vocals that sounds like it could have been on Eric Clapton’s 1986 album “August.”

Other bright spots include “New Light,” which finds Mayer suffering unrequited love, or, as he says “pushing 40 in the friend zone.” It has a funky vibe and a Santana-ish solo. And his “Wild Blue” has a cool Dire Straits feel.

If you’re getting a melancholy and retro feel here, you’re not wrong. Unrushed, comfortably in the singer-songwriter pocket — if slightly beige — is the tone here.

It straddles the line between ‘80s parody and homage, which the cover also does, reaching for a “Miami Vice” and peak Richard Marx vibe. The guitar work is Mayer at his best, throwing out gorgeous understated fireworks, but too many of their vehicles are unimpressive. For every “Guess I Just Feel Like” — with shimmering, B.B. King-inspired blues axe work — there’s the lazy “Why You No Love Me,” which sounds like a lounge act gone awry. “Carry Me Away” is as substantial as a summer breeze, and “All I Want Is to Be with You” reeks of faux moody depth, a U2 song without conviction.

— The Associated Press