Lindsey Buckingham previewed his upcoming solo LP with “On the Wrong Side,” a new song that purposely balances sprightly music and downcast lyrics.
“We were young, now we’re old / Who can tell me which is worse?” the guitarist sings on the track, built on a jangly acoustic strum, stacked vocal harmonies and bright drum loop.
“’On the Wrong Side’ is about the peaks and valleys of life on the road with Fleetwood Mac,” Buckingham said in a statement. “The song evokes ‘Go Your Own Way,’ in that it’s not a happy song, subject-matter wise, but it was an ebullient song musically. This was sort of the same idea.”
You can hear the track below.
The songwriter’s self-titled project — which follows 2011’s Seeds We Sow and the collaborative 2017 album Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie — is out Sept. 17. The LP, which Buckingham wrote and recorded at his home studio in Los Angeles, also includes the recently issued lead single “I Don’t Mind.”
“I wanted to make a pop album, but I also wanted to make stops along the way with songs that resemble art more than pop,” he said in a statement announcing the record. “As you age, hopefully you keep getting a little more grounded in the craft of what you’re doing. For me, getting older has probably helped to reinforce the innocence and the idealism that hopefully was always there.”
Buckingham will promote the project with a 30-date fall tour that launches Sept. 1 in Milwaukee and ends Dec. 20 in Boulder. The run will mark a return to extensive live performances following heart surgery in 2019.
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