This year, Jeff Buckley would have turned sixty, had he escaped the fate that struck him down at just thirty. People always say this about certain young figures with angelic faces and hearts full of grace – figures impossible to imagine at the next stage of life, with wrinkles and the burdens of middle age and old age, when the light begins to fade and the shadows advance. Jeff’s father suffered the same fate, which makes the story unique, unsettling, worthy of a Greek tragedy. Tim Buckley died at twenty-eight, with features as delicate as his son’s, the same truly angelic voice, and the same desire to explore unknown sonic worlds, all amid the indifference of the wider public but to the immense joy of those willing to listen. Starsailor was the title of Tim’s most emblematic album – “sailor of the stars” – while Grace was Jeff’s: “grace.” One […]
