REVIEW : Arthur Buck - Record Collector Magazine

REM may be history, but as his production work and collaborations with The Decemberists, Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker and more show, Peter Buck remains one of the most in-demand men in rock.

A chance meeting in Mexico with a talented long-time friend, NYC-based singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur, kick-started Buck’s latest project. However, while it evolved during down time, this low-key alliance has the ring of something far more permanent now the pair’s self-titled debut album has materialised.

Eschewing further collaborators save for engineer/mixer Tchad Blake (Arctic Monkeys, Crowded House), Arthur and Buck played everything and completed the record in days, but while Arthur Buck was quickly executed, it feels anything but dashed off.

Though it’s essentially a finely-crafted guitar pop record, Arthur Buck also finds room for enough angles, quirks and adroitly-employed electronica to keep it interesting and it rarely puts
a foot wrong as a result. The Losing My Religion-esque guitar motif launching I Am The Moment and the ghostly E-Bow and feedback-framed Can’t Make It Without You doff their cap to Buck’s illustrious past, but the swampy groove of Wanderer, eerie Blackstar-esque machine funk of If You Wake Up In Time and soul-tinged existentialism of Before Your Love Is Gone suggest Arthur Buck’s sights are set very firmly on the future.

4 Stars

Reviewed by Tim Peacock

Source