Customer Reviews

Impasse

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Alt. Country deity Richard Buckner has put his best cowboy boot forward minus the Calexico core of Burns and Convertino (who provided masterful support on 'The Hill'). As great as that release was, nobody would be missing them on "Impasse". (Buckner
played all instruments and his wife played percussion). As usual, he stretches the genre envelope into ethereal realms, and even the (sparsely used) 'cheesy' synthesizer sounds just right. Cannot this man produce anything less than exultant music? What gifts the music God hath bestowed! Let it vibrate the chakra of your heart.

Look, folks- just because you may not have heard of him doesn't mean Richard Buckner is not a major recording artist. He's making music equal to and better than Dylan, Springsteen, Joni and whoever else is going to be nominated for Grammies this year at his expense. His talent is utterly unique in popular music right now, and he's at the top of his game. Get on board- NOW! Devotion + Doubt, Since, and now Impasse are MAJOR records. Their effect will be profound and lasting. This is music that insists that you put down what you are doing and engage with it (so be careful what you are doing when you first try it on.) I could go on and on with alot of blah blah about specific qualities that this album possesses, but I would prefer not to waste any more of your time and simply urge you to snag Devotion + Doubt, Since, and Impasse. I dare you not to be moved. Buckner, along with Grace Braun and perhaps Iris Dement (if she'd put out some new music, dammit!) are among the most vital and uniquely gifted writers and singers today, and Buckner has not let us down with Impasse.

5 stars is not enough.

Buckner has traditionally been labelled alternative country, but his music has always been a little to the left of everything else. Intelligent, literary, mysterious, and with unforgettable melodies, Buckner has suprised and delighted his listeners with every album. With "Impasse" he has done it again: Very different yet seemingly inevitable, this new album references such early-eighties post-punk bands like Modern English and Wire, but still stays within that same inexplicable realm -- part Pavement, part Nick Drake, part Ralph Stanley ... and now part Cure? Fascinating stuff.

If there's a gripe, its that he seems to be moving into the same lyrically inaccessible place that Jay Farrar went to -- all metaphor and simile, and few real connections. He is undoubtedly one of rock's best lyricists, but it's tough to relate to such obliqueness. You hum the melodies, but you don't always sing along.

Still, its encouraging to see an artist refuse to compromise and keep challenging his audience. Buckner is one of our finest, most integral artists. His boundaries seem almost limitless.

Richard Buckner can convey beauty and warmth with his voice while subsequently giving you chills - and that is a combination that has me completely won over. His lyrics and music sound positively organic and real and this album is by far his best yet. Oddly, many have claimed that this is some kind of departure for him sound-wise, but I do not find that to be the case. Permanently placing Buckner in the "alt-country" category does him and his talents a grave disservice. He is one of the most earnest and talented musicians I have ever heard: by far my album of the year.

When I heard that Richard Buckner had recorded his latest album at his home studio with no other musicians, save for his wife on drums, I braced myself for a painfully raw, minimalist piece of work. After all, this is the same Richard Buckner who took MCA's major label bucks and made two of the most willfully deconstructed and personal albums of the '90s (1996's Devotion and Doubt and 1998's Since). Those albums twisted simple chord progressions and traditional songwriting styles into almost wholly unrecognizable shapes, often to brilliant effect.

Not surprisingly, Buckner's relationship with MCA lasted for only those two albums. Now that he's been left to his own devices (on the tiny Chicago-based indie, Overcoat), it stands to reason that he would come up with something even more radical, even more exploratory. But Impasse, the new album in question, is not some guttural primal scream committed to tape. In fact, it's probably Buckner's most accessible release thus far. And, in a happy coincidence, it's also probably his best. Impasse is a powerful, wrenching work, both impeccably crafted and passionately felt.

The most surprising aspect of the album is Buckner's reliance on synthesizers. The songwriter's wooly vocals pitted against symphonic keyboard swirls sounds like an odd move at first, but it's an almost wholly successful one. Though Impasse may not have had the budget of Buckner's major label offerings, it's his richest, most sonically varied recording. Case in point, the stunning "(a year ahead)...& a light," which kicks off with a galloping beat and a gorgeous twin-guitar hook and segues seamlessly into a soothing acoustic slide guitar and synth middle section, only to burst into a high-speed finale. Not a moment is wasted on Impasse: each song is focused and economical, and each song consistently rewards repeated listening.

As usual, Buckner's lyrics are uniformly excellent. With the precision of a short story writer and the tortured soul of a poet, he conveys heartache and loss like few can. Impasse sees Buckner taking a slightly more impressionistic approach to lyrics, but, as a whole, they make up what feels like an ebbing and flowing narrative. It's no mistake that the lyrics are printed in the album's booklet as a whole piece, unbroken by song titles.

So I'll go ahead and say it, even though I dread making proclamations such as these: Impasse is easily one of 2002's best albums. It'd be a shame if it didn't get the exposure it deserves.

Tyler Wilcox
Junkmedia Review

I don't know Richard Buckner, but I hate him. I hate him for creating something that haunts and possesses me. I hate him for creating an album so powerful that I feel I need it like an addict needs a fix. I hate him because his lyrics, while almost indecipherable, create in me a melancholy unrivaled by other artists. I hate him because the power of his melodies overwhelm me each time I listen and stay with me long after I stop (although I rarely stop). I hate him for creating one of the most incredible recordings that I have ever heard. In short, I hate him for doing things that I will never be able to do. For reminding me that there are people that share the same experiences as me, but are much more capable of communicating them to others. I suspect that other artists share my sentiment and I am confident that all who listens will hate him too.

After a show in San Francisco, I heard Richard Buckner describe Impasse as "new wave." At the time, it was difficult for me to imagine this, but he was right. This IS Richard Buckner's new- wave recording.

As with all Buckner recordings, this one grows on you until you come to the conclusion that the songs are truly brilliant. Moreover, one gets the sense that something exciting is going on here. Specifically, Richard Buckner is defining (and simultaneously changing) a genre as important as punk rock was in the late 70s. My sense is that everybody will be listening to Richard Buckner in 5 years.

As for the songs, there is a perfect balance between the old and the new. Dark, somber, and depressing can all be used to describe Buckner's work including Impasse, but there is so much more here. The melodies, song structures, and the use of new instruments reveal a songwriter that is unequaled in today's world. Buckner takes the listener to a place that was not possible before Impasse. In other words, I think that one needs to know Bloomed, Devotion and Doubt, and The Hill to appreciate Impasse.

Perhaps what is impressive about this CD is that Buckner is able to use synthesizers and other instruments that do not compromise the basic properties of the songs themselves. In these songs, mood is discovered. Before Bloomed, we never knew that a new artist could make us feel with "country" music. By the time The Hill was produced, we felt that the only way an artist could make us feel was through "country music." Finally, we know (maybe for the first time - at least it feels like it!) that an artist can make us feel with "new wave" music. I am going to listen to the is CD a long time.

I won't try and duplicate the eloquent words used by others in these reviews to describe this amazing album. I will say this: I often gauge music by its ability to serve as a decent soundtrack for those brief periods, known as "vacations," in which I am reminded of the existence of the wonderful world that lies outside my airconditioned cube. Background music for those long trips down backroads in the deserts outside LA. This album is so much more than that: it bypasses my daydreams and taps directly into the neural path that is activated on those all-too-brief journeys into the World. Reminds me of what is like to be free of everything except the things that matter, without having to pay for gas or airplane fare. Take a trip now.

Impasse is one of those rare collections which makes me say "That's my favorite song on this album. No, wait. THAT'S my favorite." Its chronology is so well composed I find it sinful to even contemplate shuffling the tracks. The underlying narrative is haunting, willful. In short, I find it mesmerizing.

This is the Buckner album that rocks without rocking. It's hard to explain. Drums are involed, organ, bass, electric guitar and the likes too. But nothing really ever gets loud but it somehow just rocks. The lyrics are pretty amazing if you like to actually read them. If you're looking for trite cliches, don't go here. Granted, Richard's voice is take it or leave it, but on this record, it's really hard for anyone to say no. Loaded is probably my favorite song on the record. But the song "Dusted From The Top" has this point at the climax where Richard's voice cracks almost as if he started crying while he was recording it. It's one of those few moments in recording when the singer suddenly becomes totally human...not just a figure. Personally, I like Eliot Smith, but Buckner is superior to me. This record explains why.