Shane Gilchrist continues his rummage through his album
collection. Today he jumps from dark meditations to guitar
experimentation to a dose of melancholy.
Father John Misty `Fear Fun'
Josh Tillman, who last year left Fleet Foxes having played
drums for the Seattle baroque-folk-rock act since 2008, has
found both a new voice and identity as Father John Misty.
Though he's been releasing solo albums since 2003, on Fear
Fun he achieves a rare mix of cynical focus and, as the
title suggests, frivolity. This album was born out of a
process of rediscovery (from near-crippling depression to
relocation in Los Angeles hippy enclave Laurel Canyon) and it
shows as, in his warm baritone, Tillman offers a darkly
exuberant meditation on various aspects of the human
condition.
For those who like: Wilco, Rufus Wainwright.
Grizzly Bear 'Shields'
The self-imposed hibernation from one another prompted by the
touring frenzy that followed previous release
Veckatimest has clearly done no damage to Grizzly
Bear, the New York quartet's studio return equally warm,
weird, angular and upfront. For the first time, key
songwriters Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen wrote together; it
might be less restrained than previous efforts, but the
overall result continues the band's penchant for sonic
experimentation. Again, it's a detailed palette of distant
electric guitars entwined with in-your-face acoustics, drum
rhythms that pulse but are played down in the mix and
ethereal harmonies.
For those who like: Wilco.
Dylan LeBlanc 'Cast the Same Old
Shadow'
The son of a session musician who frequented Muscle Shoals'
aptly named Fame Studios, Dylan LeBlanc possesses a husky
voice that belies his tender 20 years and a set of
songwriting chops that'd likely have more than a few
Nashville rent-a-writers shaking their heads. The follow-up
to Paupers Field, his excellent 2010 debut, is a
cinematic affair: ever-present slide guitar offers cascading
washes of sound, harmonies rise or fall into backdrops of
tasteful strings as LeBlanc sings of regrets, of love found
then lost. Melancholic it might be, but Cast the Same Old
Shadow is a beautiful thing to behold.
For those who like: Neko Case, Neil Young.
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