Vagabonds

As guitarist and frequent songwriter with , was on hand from the group's atmospheric -influenced early recordings to their later grand-scale productions, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that ' first solo album should embrace both ends of this musical spectrum. manages to sound grand and organic at once, with the arrangements and production capturing a sense of the wide open spaces of and , especially on the beautifully heart-tugging while also encompassing the more ambitious melodic conceits of on tracks like There's also quite a bit of stylistic cross-talk between these two poles, and ' lyrics reach for a more personal and philosophical tone than he's offered in the past. There's a poignant search for answers in and a longing for the solace of love in that digs deeper into the psyche than he's been willing to go in the past, and even simpler compositions such as reveal a new level of maturity and a willingness to experiment. has rarely if ever been in better form as a singer than he is on , delivering his lyrics with a passion and sincerity that serve their emotional power well, and his guitar work is as strong and forceful as ever. of produced the sessions (with engineering), and the pairing is an inspired one; the result is an album that sounds full-bodied but natural and uncluttered, and gives ' fine songs plenty of room to reveal their virtues. Anyone who has followed ' career knows that is a major talent, and demonstrates he's still capable of making remarkable music outside the framework of the band. ~ Mark Deming