Richard Buckner – Surrounded
Merge, 2013
On the surface, these songs feel like hushed acoustic
ballads plucked out by a solitary man recorded at some sanctuary a hundred
miles from the nearest living human. Buckner’s soft yet subtly gravely vocals
are what alt-country and modern Americana sound like when I think about the
platonic ideals of those genres. Mostly because Buckner’s songs “Blue and
Wonder,” “Surprise, AZ,” and “Lil Wallet Picture” opened my ears to the
twangier side of reality. And yet as lonely as Buckner’s music feels, my
favorite aspect of Surrounded is
Tucker Martine’s production, which deftly accentuates Buckner’s austere songs
in a way that feels organic and unobtrusive. Martine’s ability to make
everything he touches shine a little brighter without being is what makes
Buckner’s tenth album in his nearly twenty year his best. Like so many mournful-guy-and-a-guitar
albums, Surrounded is an album built
for driving down the highway late at night. Even though it’s not actually a
mournful-guy-and-a-guitar album. Though Buckner’s finger picked acoustic is the
primary supplement to his vocals, Surrounded’s
landscape is laced with a variety of keyboards, synthesizers, seamlessly
layered backing vocals, and a number of instruments that feel like favorites
from Martine’s work with the Decemberists. It sounds like a lot, but there is a
tremendous amount of restraint. Every song feels like it has its own flavor,
which for a singer-songwriter album is no mean feat. Surrounded displays two different kinds of excellent craftsmanship,
and I can only hope this is only the beginning of a beautiful friendship
between Buckner and Martine.
"When You Tell Me How It Is"
"Lean-to"
"Portrait"
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