Richard Buckner has been around for a while now and with numerous albums to his credit. Over this time, not only has he remained prolific but also, his albums have maintained such a consistently high quality that, it remains a mystery why this man’s talents are not more widely recognised.
What shines through on 'Surrounded' is the variety of instrumentation on the songs. Gentle finger-picking on the guitar, on the title track, a harmonium (?), on 'When You Tell Me How It Is'. A strummed acoustic guitar, and keyboard on ‘Beautiful Question'
These pieces of new gear are actually, a Suzuki QChord electronic autoharp and an Electro-Harmonix POG2 pedal according to the Merge Records website.
What are constant are Richard's deep rich vocals, layered over the instruments and words. The lyrics actually come from his musing over creating some short stories at the end of his last tour.
The story goes that after working on these short stories Richard found himself back in the music room taking the opposite approach to his last album, ‘Our Blood’ was where songs were re-recorded and re-worked over and over again so this time, working with producer Tucker Martine the songs on ‘Surrounded’ were composed, recorded and then pushed out of the door.
The overall effect is a superb record and one which should become your constant companion for some time to come.
Pete
10/11
1. Surrounded
2. When You Tell Me How It Is
3. Beautiful Question
4. Foundation
5. Portrait
6. Mood
7. Go
8. Cut
9. Lean-To
Surrounded is out on 3rd September on Merge Records.