After reducing things to a quiet, sad and desperate whisper for his post-divorce album Devotion + Doubt, singer-songwriter Richard Buckner returned to an acoustic / electric mix for Since. His third album includes the tougher, excited range of the opener "Believer" with its rough, chugging electric guitars and the brutal band power of "Jewelbomb" alongside the lonesome hush of "Boys, The Night Will Bury You" and the solemn folk roots of "Ariel Ramirez" and "Once." Signed to a major label, Buckner used the expanded budget not to gloss over his sound, but to better support it. The guitars are thick and warm. The harmonies are strategically enforced ("Faithful Shooter"). The drums come together in perfect collision with Buckner's unique countrified delivery where he skates over notes with an optimism often at odds with his fatalist lyrics. Buckner was one of the ‘90s most fascinating singer-songwriter discoveries and Since is arguably his most fully realized album.