Lorca (album)
| Lorca | ||||
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| Studio album by Tim Buckley | ||||
| Released | May 1970 | |||
| Recorded | 18, 19 & 26 September 1969, Whitney Studios, Glendale, CA | |||
| Genre | Folk-jazz, Avant-folk | |||
| Length | 39:24 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Producer | Dick Kunc | |||
| Tim Buckley chronology | ||||
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| AllMusic |   |
Lorca is the fifth album by singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, released in 1970. It was named after Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, and was recorded simultaneously with Blue Afternoon, though notably different in style. It was one of Buckley's two avant-garde albums, and explored some sounds and ideas he had never used before. Also importantly, it was an attempt to break away from more traditional and prevalent pop music songwriting styles, such as the verse/chorus binary form, that Buckley had explored in the earlier parts of his career.
Lorca exemplifies the beginning of Buckley's move away from his folk-rock roots and towards a free-form mix of jazz, avant-garde and folk. Musically, Buckley uses the lack of a constant rhythm section to drive the songs forward with his voice. Many songs make use of a chromatic scale which makes them stand in stark contrast to Buckley's earlier melodic works. The lyrics of Lorca also represent a departure from his previous traditional folk-style writing, instead Buckley uses a more abstract descriptive style, avoiding direct narratives and standard song themes. This is a reflection of the poetry, such as the works of poet Federico García Lorca, that Buckley and guitarist Lee Underwood were reading at the time. The album's opener and title track is a much less guitar-based song, something in contrast to Buckley's previous works, and this would be a theme in Buckley would explore more in his later avant-garde works.
According to Larry Beckett, his songwriting partner from Tim Buckley and Goodbye and Hello, he was purposely trying to alienate fans at this point. Buckley described it as an album that, "To this day, you can't put...on at a party without stopping things; it doesn't fit in."
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