Brendan Benson Breaks Out The Cheap Tricks On Power Pop Rock Winner ‘Dear Life’

In recent years Brendan Benson has focused on writing and producing other people’s records while also being central to The Raconteurs revival so it has been seven years since his last proper solo record was released. Now arrives Dear Life, an album that looks at his personal situation as a father, husband, and musician in today’s fractured world, pulling from all aspects of Bensons past while adding futuristic touches to his sound.

Those new flourishes arrive early as the opening “I Can If You Want Me To” plays with digital beats, inserting them into a roller coaster ride, resulting in a sleek modern rock winner. That experimentation is less successfully followed by the first single on the album “Good To Be Alive” which is also the oddest offering. The tune sounds like two tracks frankensteined together, one being a piano ballad dealing with futility and moaning about staged moon landings, the other a digital dance track which proclaims it is great to be alive (perhaps ironically) around vocal distortion.

“Half A Boy” is a groovy hard rock number with more digital beeps for flavor while “In Love” is a brief modern take on past Detroit rock, but both tracks are fine but would vastly improve with more power and oomph from his Raconteur bandmates.

Things improve when Benson embraces his long-standing Beatles love and admiration. “Baby’s Eyes” is an easy acoustic strumming ditty while “I Quit” also recalls the group’s pop charm. The legends’ influence, especially late-career pomp and solo album activism infects two of the best tracks here as well. “Richest Man” is a robust pop-rock love song, breezily shimmying along via smooth horns while the gloriously sounding title track deals with difficult subjects including a vivid PTSD description.

Bensons lyrics move from domestic bliss and love to trying accounts of fear, disillusionment, and struggling with mental pain. A song like “Freak Out” gains unanticipated resonance during these isolation days/daze, while album closer “Whose Gonna Love You” uses loops, pianos and lyrics about perseverance and staying strong through troubling times.

Overall Benson has crafted an enjoyable, thoughtful slice of pop-rock on Dear Life,  embracing his classic rock love while not limiting the scope of his sound and voice.

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