An album of philoposhical musings on love and loss, DENTS AND SHELLS continues the consistently high quality Richard Buckner has given the world over the past decade and five or so solo records.
Like an impressionist Kris Kristofferson, he sings of loads of heartbreak, but at the foundation always exists a world-weary toughness, aided in no small part by his characteristic husky voice.
Reverting to an earlier instrumental style than his last release IMPASSE, which featured Buckner playing almost all the instruments a la MCCARTNEY 2 (album, as well as billionaire) DENTS AND SHELLS features a full band on about half the songs, and Richard, his guitar and tasteful little sonic additions on the rest. The arrangements are all wonderfully acoustic. Pedal steel, accordion, piano, cello, all provide mature support, and give the collection an overall sound more relaxed and spontaneous than the synth-laden IMPASSE.
Buckner generally couples his honest but not necessarily straightforward lyrics with a non-standard song structure that avoids verse-chorus pop conventions. PICTURE DAY and HER are arguably the most accessible songs on first play, though on repeated listenings the consistency of the album as a whole becomes evident.
Those unfamiliar with Buckner, but fans of bands like Wilco, Iron And Wine, or Elliot Smith (not that I’m lumping them together, but I know enough people who like all three) will probably fall in love at first listen.
And like most of my favorite albums, Dents and Shells clocks in at around the 35 minute mark, which may disappoint those who have grown fond of the 18 song cd, but which suits me perfectly.
Merge Records is great.
Richard Buckner is great.
Long live both |