Written, produced and performed almost solely by the Fleetwood Mac guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham’s sixth studio album doesn’t suggest a guy who’s spent most of the past 36 years as the artistic center of a band that’s sold more records than everyone currently in the charts combined. It’s Buckingham’s first self-released disc, and it feels like an indie album, albeit one from a studio genius able to afford and master any high-end gizmo he pleases. The folky opening title track would fit on Fleet Foxes’ latest if it weren’t so exquisitely produced; it may be entirely acoustic, but listen to the way his wordless refrain halfway through the track soars like the private jets that became Fleetwood Mac’s preferred vehicle of travel.

Ever since Tusk — the quintet’s notoriously experimental follow-up to its blockbuster Rumours — “only” went double platinum, Buckingham’s solo albums have been the destination for his most personal and daring material. This one suggests Tusk in its mix of gentle ballads and tense, almost New Wave uptempo cuts. The fast stuff is really fast: When his menacing meditation on corporate greed “One Take” shifts into quadruple time on the choruses, the drums thump and roll faster… read more »