Lukewarm rock with lush edges

David Gray presented his soulful, folky pop-rock with a mixture of humility and grandiosity Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium, thrilling the capacity crowd but never fully transcending the music’s mere agreeability.

After several albums, the British singer-songwriter had his breakthrough with 1999’s “White Ladder,” which sold 2 million copies. Both it and the follow-up, last year’s “A New Day at Midnight,” offered seemingly deep but none too taxing ruminations about love and life, sprawled out on lush beds of folk, electronica and R&B.;

Gray, who is signed to Dave Matthews’ record label, had the Matthews-esque vocal jubilance and appeal of a sensitive regular guy trying to figure it all out. He also had a similar knack for using such arena-rock touches as fancy lighting and two black-and-white video screens flanking the stage to give an epic feel to his ordinary observations.

He began solo with guitar; then the huge curtain parted and his quartet joined in for “The Other Side,” a heartfelt piano ballad addressing love’s uncertainty. The audience remained blissfully attentive during the 90-minute-plus set, which covered most of “Midnight,” older material such as the standout “My Oh My,” and a version of Soft Cell’s torchy “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.”

The music ranged from jangly acoustic bounce to Van Morrison-esque soul-pop. Yet although the musicians shaded each tune carefully, the emotional peaks and valleys felt more like hilltops and ditches.