The Fire’s Still Burning

Lindsey Buckingham “In Our Own Time”

The character of Lindsey Buckingham’s music has changed a lot as he’s aged. His best-known work from the Seventies and Eighties was always a bit high-strung and angst-ridden; he pretty much specialized in writing bitter break-up songs. In recent years, though, that’s all gone away in favor of a more serene tone. The angst is still there, but it’s focused on issues of mortality and buried beneath gorgeous, cascading finger-picked guitar parts. “In Our Own Time,” from this latest record Seeds We Sow, merges this approach with elements of the bonkers studio-rat production style he developed on his first two solo albums in the Eighties. It’s a fascinating mix of sounds and textures, with fluid, graceful parts set in odd contrast with synthetic keyboard and percussion parts. The best thing here is the way Buckingham treats his guitar, seemingly speeding up his parts to the point of making his arpeggios seem abstract and cartoonish.

Buy it from Amazon.

I wrote an entire week of Fluxblog entries about Lindsey Buckingham’s body of work earlier this year. Here are links to all of those posts in case you missed it:

• “The Ledge” / “It Was I”

• “Monday Morning” / “Hold Me”

• “What Makes You Think You’re the One?” / “Walk a Thin Line”

• “I Want You” / “Crying in the Night”

• “Second Hand News” / “Time Precious Time”