BRENDAN BENSON

What Kind of World

[Readymade]

On What Kind of World, Jack White’s Raconteurs partner Brendan Benson puts on his solo-artist hat and taps suitably homemade ’70s vibes ranging from rock-star riffing to AM-gold smoothness. For every electric guitar solo, there’s a piano ballad to counter. There is a little genre-shifting in the songs’ accents; the horns on “No One Else but You” sound as if they might segue into a chorus of the Beatles’ “Carry That Weight” at any moment, while Benson rolls out a little country twang on album closer “On the Fence.” While Benson has mellowed a little as a lyricist, his themes remain consistent. His music continues to be filled with existential crises—musings about the nature of happiness, the lure of family (versus the more facile conceits of love and attraction that are usually the stuff of pop music) and just what kind of world we live in. –Amanda Farah

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