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 hes been slowly releasing since the mid-90s. With seventh solo album Dear Life, Benson actively explores beyond both the rock heaviness of the Raconteurs and, to a lesser degree, the power pop songwriting greatness thats 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 Bensons 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 Whos Gonna Love You. When Benson strikes out with this kind of experimentation, its hard not to think of his bandmate Jack Whites willfully weird 2018 album Boarding House Reach. Bensons 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 hes still in new territory. As Dear Life goes on, however, Bensons 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 Benson relaxes into more familiar organic songwriting on tunes like Babys Eyes and Richest Man. An amazing singer, Bensons 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 Dear Life. Its exciting to hear Benson 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 hes been refining for all these years. ~ Fred Thomas

Rovi