Benjamin Booker – LOWER (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

When neighbors burned a cross in his yard when he was six, Benjamin Booker says he shut the world out and began to live in his head. After a debut influenced by Jack White's buzzing, guitar-forward ethos, Booker—who has spent time in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Perth, Australia—has turned his inner wonders and convictions into his most varied full-length album yet. As he sings on "POMPEII STATUES," he was guided by "Going deeper into madness/ Going deeper into darkness/ Going deeper into new doubt." Given Booker's whispered vocals, the vibe is chill despite lyrics that churn and twist with worry and confusion. He employs a number of supporting musicians to add background textures but his main collaborator here is L.A. hip-hop producer Kenny Segal (aka Syndakit). Emotionally, Lower rollercoasters between moments of fragile hope as in "SLOW DANCE IN A GAY BAR," where against a placid background of guitar and Fender Rhodes he pleads, "I am beginning to see the beauty all around me/ What this life can be." In the next track, "SPEAKING WITH THE DEAD," Booker, accompanied by bass and cello, wonders, "Tell me how to live a good life/ In this evil, evil place." A strummed guitar and drums open "REBECCA LATIMER FELTON TAKES A BBC" and a cello adds heft to choruses that ask questions of the titular early 20th century feminist and white supremacist who became the last U.S. Senator (she served for one day) to have owned slaves. Tempos go upbeat on "NEW WORLD" before the weight of fuzz guitar returns in "SAME KIND OF LONELY." The album's most appealing melody emerges over the sounds of a gunfight and the murmurs of an infant. That melodic muscle continues with "SHOW AND TELL" where Booker's outlook again turns sunny as declares, "And I'm waiting for the future/ For the hidden you and mes/ For the life in us/ For the love in us/ For the brightness to peak." This complicated personal odyssey closes with Booker insisting "I want more than a dream" on "HEAVY ON MY MIND," and then finally "HOPE FOR THE NIGHT TIME" where he fights lethargy and alcohol, finally concluding, "Life is contagious/ Hope for your journey/ Hope for you." Bravely open and emotional, Lower continues Booker's search for higher resolution. © Robert Baird/Qobuz