Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Buckingham 180g LP

TAS Rated 4.5/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the December 2021 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

2021's Lindsey Buckingham is the legendary artist's first solo release since 2011's Seeds We Sow, and follows his departure from Fleetwood Mac. As with the seven studio and three live albums he has released as a solo artist beginning with 1981's Law And Order, the new project showcases Buckingham's instinct for melody and his singular fingerpicking guitar style, reaffirming his status as one of the most inventive and electrifying musicians of his generation.

The new album is a welcome display of Buckingham's instantly recognizable guitar work and vocal layering, particularly on songs such as "Power Down", "Scream" and "Swan Song". Elsewhere, Buckingham pays homage to '60s folk group the Pozo-Seco Singers' hit single "Time", a song he's admired since he was a teenager and has long intended to cover. "I wanted to make a pop album, but I also wanted to make stops along the way with songs that resemble art more than pop," he says. "As you age, hopefully you keep getting a little more grounded in the craft of what you're doing. For me, getting older has probably helped to reinforce the innocence and the idealism that hopefully was always there."

Over the last four decades, Buckingham has developed a radical sense of experimentation and an unrivaled savvy as a producer. He first honed these skills as a singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer and the musical visionary of Fleetwood Mac, for which he wrote and produced several Top Ten hits, including "Go Your Own Way", "Tusk" and "Big Love". Under Buckingham's direction, Fleetwood Mac became one of the best-selling and most beloved rock groups of all time. As a solo artist, Buckingham often plays nearly every instrument himself; his complex arrangements and inventive production choices make his solo work thrilling to experience. Earlier this year, he appeared on "Caution", the newest single from the Killers. He remains a highly sought-after collaborator, a maverick and a visionary.

Lindsey Buckingham teems with ten song templates reflecting the artist's signature one-man-band style - i.e., minimal yet lively arrangements, chameleonic vocal manipulations, and never-static, perpetually churning guitar lines. Buckingham is an avowed master of track layering, and the insistent rhythm of 'Scream' sets the soundfield table thanks to multi-tiered vocals and recurring chimes reigning down the middle, counter guitar lines on the choruses being sent to the left, and percussion elements split both left and right. 'Power Down' is a breathy, skittery rebirth treatise, while 'On the Wrong Side' is a deceptively sunny look at things somewhat unsaid yet certainly known, buttressed by sweet vocal harmonies on the choruses and a pair of guitar solos - one measured, the other fast and furious - affirming his talent for knowing exactly when to unleash pent-up fury. Lindsey Buckingham is a career artist who, whenever compelled to go his own way, always charts the right path.

... [A]n exquisitely rendered gem.... [T]he nice thing about Lindsey Buckingham is that it feels as vibrant as it is controlled. It's the work of an expert craftsman who relies on his skills as composer, arranger, producer, vocalist, and guitarist to sculpt songs that comfort without succumbing to nostalgia.