Lindsey Buckingham

Released on 2021-09-17 by Reprise
Main artists: Lindsey Buckingham
Genre: Rock

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It is positively spooky how consistently interesting Lindsey Buckingham's 30-year solo career has been. For a musician whose core creative philosophy seems rooted in the way art emerges from dramatic chaos, his own output—both within and without Fleetwood Mac—always manages to be immediately familiar and completely surprising. And although it's been ten years since his last proper solo album, his 2017 collaboration with Christine McVie (featuring Mick Fleetwood and John McVie) felt more like "Buckingham with guests" than the "Fleetwood Mac without Stevie Nicks" album the lineup suggested, as it leaned heavily on Buckingham's unique vocal and guitar phrasings. However, when confronted with a true Lindsey Buckingham solo effort—as in, "written, performed, and produced by"—it's abundantly clear just how differently he thinks when left to his own devices. For a man who turns 72 in October, 2021, and is among the most famous rock musicians alive, it's remarkable just how weird and fearless he still is. The tenor and textures here are uniquely his, as is the distinct approach to multi-tracked self-harmonies, drum machine programming, and slightly off-kilter layers of instrumentation that evoke a mood that somehow is both claustrophobic and exploratory. It's an "in-the-box" sound that's less rock-oriented than 2011's Seeds We Sow (Buckingham calls it "pop," but it most definitely is not, despite how catchy some of the tunes are here), and more aligned with the coke-sheen new wave he was making on Mirage and Law and Order in the early '80s. And while a cut like "Blind Love" blatantly revisits the drum pattern of "Trouble," Buckingham has reconfigured the approach into something stranger and much more introspective here. Frenetic harmonies and digidrum patterns on a track like "Swan Song" show an artist in anxious conversation with himself. Some may be a bit disappointed that there's not a tremendous amount of guitar here, but when it does show up, it's mightily impressive; Buckingham flexes his fingerpicking skills on the glitchy and melodic "I Don't Mind" and the, er, electric "Power Down," both brisk reminders of what an underrated and unique player he is. Of course, it's not the '80s anymore, and for an artist exiled from the band that made him famous and looking at his eighth decade on the planet, it's probably not surprising that the lyrics here can get a little melancholy. "On the Wrong Side" is an explicit exploration of old age, but in typical Buckingham fashion, it's a bit askew and maybe a little cynical, while the more direct and melancholy "Dancing," closes the album out on a somber note of poetic reflection. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

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Lindsey Buckingham

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