Buxton’s newest record, Stay Out Late, unfortunately, did not impress me. This album was my first introduction to the group’s discography, and I think there’s something to be said about the sound that Buxton is trying to achieve that really throws me off. I’m left stumped on the direction that Buxton wants to take their music, as in this album at least, the range of sounds and song types go down several paths, but as their Spotify description reads, their sound certainly is “dusty.” And dusty really is a word I think of when I think of this album.

One of my biggest irks with this album is the production. The production is something out of a nightmare. I was trying to imagine a context that they would use synths in a very Western soft-rock, almost country, sound, maybe trying to go for a more mellow take on something more grand and extravagant sound that a group like The Killers might have. However, the consistency to which these synth parts manage to create a genuinely nice sound are few and far between. The synth quality, and really even the playing of it, sounds so out of place on songs like “This Place Reminds Me Of You” or “Blood Runs Blue,” which are really only saved by the fact that the guitar parts on these songs sound genuinely pretty good in quality, even if they aren’t all that complicated or proprietary. And this disappoints me because the synth sounds great on songs like “Hanging On The Coast,” which sounds very airy and fine-tuned if nothing else. Besides the synths, there are just general peeves I have, like the song “Haunt You” sounding so mellow and quiet that I can only imagine it being recorded in a library.

My disinterest in this album exceeds the production. Besides my grievances with the production quality being very back and forth, the sound of this album did not jump out to me at all. Many songs on here feel just way too quiet and airy, no particular stand-out lyrics or messages. My favorite song on here would almost definitely be “Inside Out,” just for the fun sound of it (most certainlynot for the lyrics, though I wasn’t exactly expecting Bob Dylan), even if it sounds like any other generic soft-rock song. My second favorite would be “Miles and Miles,” my third favorite being “Hanging On The Coast.” Maybe I’ve been a little pessimistic towards this album, but I found this album a bit of taxing listen.