Orville Peck- Bronco
Label: Columbia
Producer: Jay Joyce
His 2019 debut album and its 2020 follow-up EP established Orville Peck as definite worthwhile curiosity within the country and Americana music scene, what with his campy masked persona, chilling cover of Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” and that game-changing collaboration with Shania Twain. This excellent sophomore album however deserves to put Orville Peck on a completely new trajectory, as one of American music’s most creatively vibrant new artistic forces. Pure and simple, Bronco is a startlingly rewarding and vibrant revelation of a record. Every moment of it is expertly sung, written, arranged and produced. Peck’s rich, brooding vocal range has garnered plenty of attention from the get-go, but the material and stylistic choices that abound throughout this record shine glorious light on the fact that he may be the most powerful male voice, both physically and creatively, to emerge in any genre in a decade or more. Acclaimed producer Jay Joyce proves to be a perfect stylistic compass for Peck as the pair effectively color his traditional and California country inclinations with ravishing dashes of everything from 60s pop and 60s countrypolitan to rapid-fire rockabilly and Western noir. But like any classic album, it’s the remarkable song-to-song consistency of the set that really makes Bronco such a rewarding wonder. It’s difficult for me to select which songs to point out in this review, so I’m simply not going to name any. And that’s the true song of a great album. They’re all fucking fantastic. And yes, I realize that sounds more complimentary and gushy than any credible music writer should, but that’s just how damn good Bronco is. This is going to be a hard one to beat in my mind as 2022 progresses.
Track Listing:
- “Daytona Sand” (Orville Pekc)
- “The Curse of the Blackened Eye” (Peck, Chris Stracey, Tobias Jesso, Jr.)
- “Outta Time” (Peck, Kyle Connolly)
- “Lafayette” (Peck)
- “C’mon Baby, Cry” (Peck, Jess, Stracey)
- “Iris Rose” (Peck)
- “Kalahari Down” (Peck)
- “Bronco” (Peck)
- “Trample Out the Days” (Peck)
- “Blush” (Peck)
- “Hexie Mountains” (Peck)
- “Let Me Drown” (Peck)
- “Any Turn” (Peck)
- “City of Gold” (Peck)
- “All I Can Say” (Peck, Duncan Jay Hennings, Bria Salemena)
The 706 
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