[12.02] Breakin' up is seldom good for much, but every now and then it can help churn out a really nice little album. Case in point—Richard Buckner's latest release Impasse, which follows the recent divorce from wife and drummer Penny Jo Buckner.

Despite my not-so-secret crush on Buckner, I genuinely was saddened to hear of their split. Watching the two of them play together was fantastic—Penny is a great drummer and the two seemed like a perfect pair. She plays on this album, and it'll be interesting to see if the two of them wind up going down the Quasi-we're-divorced-but-we-still-play-together road.

Impasse is an ironic title since this 15-track album shows that Buckner is anywhere but a dead-end when it comes to his ability as a musician. He plays just about everything on this album: bass, percussion, keyboards, vibes, even a Hawaiian guitar. Unlike many a breakin' up album, these songs aren't tunes to wallow by—they're a solid collection displaying the best of Buckner's alt-country, rockin' sensibility.

Buckner seems still soaked in the poetry of his last album The Hill (a musical interpretation of Edgar Lee Master's "Spoon River Anthology." You can see it even in the lyrical titles given to songs, such as "Grace-I'd-said-I'd-known" and "& The Clouds've Lied." But on this album, long-time Buckner fans will hear more of the crooning hooks for which Buckner distinguished himself on earlier records like Devotion and Doubt and Since and less of the experimental orchestration heard on The Hill.

Songs like "Born Into Giving It Up" is classic Richard Buckner—a stringing together of notes in a way that rocks while teetering on the verge of heartbreak. "Were You Tried & Not as Tough" is the perfect example of how a guy as country as Buckner could appeal to even those who swear that country is a four letter word. Oddly enough, my favorite tune on this album is the title track in which you'll hear neither Buckner's guitar nor his voice. It's a simple, haunting melody lasting barely more than a minute—but this it the tune that crawls into your brain leaving you scratching your head wondering "What album is that song on?" That song is on Impasse. —Rapunzel