The late 2010s produced a lot of interesting singer/songwriters, but among the more intriguing that I’ve heard in this last year is David Raybuck, whose record The Prodigal is raising a lot of eyebrows both in his scene as well as on the international level. A product of hybrid creativities and eclectic experimentation with some of the more old-school folk-rock tricks in the book, The Prodigal takes everything that was suggested as being possible in the surreal singer/songwriter movement of the late 2010s and easily reshapes it to fit a more postmodern, boundless template, with songs like “Words of the Teacher,” “Be Healed,” the title track and “Desert Ride” exploring new musical realms for the genre behind the fireworks. It’s a quantum leap forward for this mild-mannered musician’s scene, and one of my go-to listens this October for sure.
While several of the folk records I’ve heard lately have had some incredible harmonies, this album forces David Raybuck to push himself to the very edge with his vocals, and the results of his efforts are pure gold. “Long Time Coming,” the potent “The Pathway,” “In the Shadow of Your Wings” and “Hosanna” showcase some of his most profoundly emotive singing, while “Why I Sing” and “My Suffering” allude to virtuosities still to be experimented with further in his next studio affair. He’s got so much to offer as a singer, and here, he’s giving up any hesitations he might have held within himself before now when it comes time to pick up the microphone.
There’s an unspoken urgency to “The Pathway” that is never elaborated upon in other songs here, but I don’t know that it needs to be for us to feel the melodically cathartic release toward the end of the record. Raybuck is so good at creating moods in his music, and in this song, as well as “Scales” and “Abide” in particular, his navigation of complicated instrumental arrangements should be enough to leave any indie connoisseur on their knees begging for more. For being as black and white as it is, The Prodigal feels like a stuffed double LP loaded full of songs that are both familiar and new to even the most loyal of his supporters.
I wouldn’t have said this before hearing his new record, but now that I’ve given the album’s 14 tracks a go, I can’t wait to hear what David Raybuck does in the next couple of years. He’s breaking through with The Prodigal and tapping into areas of his sound that had seemed inaccessible to his peers just a year ago, and though this recent release isn’t without a couple of flaws here and there, it’s got enough sonic gusto to make up for whatever it might be lacking on the surface side of things. I’d be really curious to hear an all-out acoustic record featuring nothing more than Raybuck and a 12-string guitar sometime, but even if he decides to do the exact opposite with his next piece, I’ll be all ears for his forthcoming output just the same.
Claire Uebelacker