Review: Chris Bullinger finds acceptance with ‘Waitin’ to Be Seen’ – Part 2

Chris Bullinger invites listeners to engage with a thematically bold, towering double album. Waitin’ to Be Seen, split in half, seeks to regale a tale about a chance encounter that rattles him to the core. The newly-released second half, which features such standouts as “Salvation as I Know It” and “Shine,” deepens Bullinger’s craft in thrilling ways. His reedy timbre quivers over honeyed melodies and transmits a wealth of wisdom. In the way he turns phrases or lifts his voice at the ends of lines, he takes the audience’s hand and guides them through the halls of a deeply personal story.

From “Meet You Down the Line” to “Remember Me,” the record emerges as Bullinger’s magnum opus. It’s not enough that he writes about real, honest things, but the performances themselves shake loose things that may have been long buried. “The bells in the steeple ring,” his voice trips along a path of percussion and saloon piano in the latter song. Within dark shadows of human existence, he unearths earth-shattering performances that shove the listener to their knees.

“Through the Dark” and “Shine” arrive as companion pieces – one shedding the darkness and the other relishing in it. Startling piano keys accentuate Bullinger’s raspy performance in the second song, a piece that displays his diverse vocal patterns. “Gonna shine on you,” he croaks. A gospel-bent background vocalist tosses harmonious gasoline to the song, bolstering it into the sky before provoking a torrential downpour onto the melody. Some performances on Bullinger’s new record feel monumental, as though born from natural sources.

The singer-songwriter doesn’t adhere to convention or expectation. He leaves his heart throbbing on the hardwood floor of musicality, as he does with “Lazy Green Dream,” an electric guitar-soak ditty that’s a surefire toe-tapper. He lets his soul guide his music as though some omnipresent being is conjuring up some eternal set pieces. Waitin’ to Be Seen comes to a climactic release with double-album closer “Offering Acceptance,” in which he abides the things in life he simply can’t change. It strikes like a hot iron, perfectly capturing the breadth of all 23 songs. He offers you sage advice about accepting life, love, and death. We can’t escape those things, so Bullinger extends a helping hand to get you through it. And we should listen.

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