Those familiar with
Brendan Benson
might know him for his role in
the Raconteurs
, the guitar-heavy rock band he started with
Jack White
, or for the striking solo albums he's been slowly releasing since the mid-'90s. With seventh solo album
Dear Life
,
Benson
actively explores beyond both the rock heaviness of
and, to a lesser degree, the power pop songwriting greatness that's defined his solo work. Album opener "I Can If You Want Me To" begins with a looped vocal sample and processed singing, programmed drums, and a nearly dubstep-like chorus that all add up to a huge departure from anything
's attempted before. The computerized feel of this song carries over with the detached synths and cut-up samples of "Good to Be Alive" and the reverb-thick loops of "Who's Gonna Love You." When
strikes out with this kind of experimentation, it's hard not to think of his bandmate
's willfully weird 2018 album
Boarding House Reach
.
's dabbling with vocoded vocals and beat programming never goes quite as far off the deep end as
White
did with that brilliantly strange record, but he's still in new territory. As
goes on, however,
's pop roots come out more. Good-times classic rock hooks dance with synth pulses on "Half a Boy," with a chorus so infectious its melody outshines any arrangement choices. Themes of family and life settling into a good place come up repeatedly, especially when
relaxes into more familiar organic songwriting on tunes like "Baby's Eyes" and "Richest Man." An amazing singer,
's ability to harmonize with himself is one of his many gifts as a songwriter. As with all of his albums, his understated vocal arrangements are one of the guiding forces on
. It's exciting to hear
take some new risks with these songs, but also a relief that he never gets too far away from the deft songwriting and pop sensibilities that he's been refining for all these years. ~ Fred Thomas