GutterPutter

Great Grandpa is an American indie rock band from the state of Washington. They don’t have the artistic inventiveness to reach out into experimental sub-genres, let alone make new ones, but they have developed a reputation of reliability. They aren’t like Wet Leg with a meticulous knack at poppy songwriting or MJ Lenderman through a certain rough refinement. They aren’t even like Hop Along despite their dependable non-binary vocalist. They are more like Modest Mouse where their style has a certain variety in its production or composition. However, it’s a style that has never verges on specifically to the likes of emo or dream pop or post-rock or any adjacent direction. Look at “Teen Challenge” or “Dark Green Water” from 2017’s Plastic Cough and 2019’s Four of Arrow to get a good idea on their flexibility.

Patience, Moonbeam is the band’s third album after nearly seven years’ worth of absence in releasing new records. Those who are out for something groundbreaking should temper their expectations for a start as it doesn’t pave the way towards making something new. What it does do well is the way it handles the dynamic of their song structure to elicit some emotions. ‘Junior’ contains a fiddle which gives the song an alt-country feel. Yet, it compliments well with the lyrical theme of escapism and freedom which lends well with being in a Western kind of series. It is fitting to the point where the hollering chorus comes off as emancipatory rather than kitschy. Or, to bring another example, how ‘Never Rest’ feels as if it’s two songs stitched together with one being abruptly cut only a minute into the track. This bit of shakiness is needed to energise the adventurous atmosphere.

Moreover, the album owes a lot of its fun to the little deviations it might have made from its style to give itself a bit more life. Like Spoon, Great Grandpa has a sharp and creative use of the production to electrify Patience, Moonbeam. ‘Kiss the Dice’ has a notable reverb and a mechanical percussion that’s not exactly in line with industrial music, but it helps to keep up the bittersweet mood even if it’s a tad bit thinned-out. The guitar riff that leans on the lower pitch and the blatant use of autotune for ‘Doom’ compliments the capitalist realism-esque dystopian feeling that is reminiscent of Radiohead. ‘Task’ is especially sprawling in its studio experimentations with the glitchy electronic backings and a psychedelic panning of the fiddle. To call it ecclesiastical in the way that it’s been polished up is hyperbolic, but it’s not far-fetched to argue for its glistering beauty.

It is thanks to the great production and the general flexibility of the band’s style that the hollow points of the album derive from whether it verges on being maximalist. Its biggest strengths are often noticeable to a slight fault whether it happens to cross over to a blindspot in the general songwriting. Take ‘Ladybug’ where the backing vocal layers are very much so sharp in how equalised it sounds, but it feels overused. It even reaches the point where the hollering is likely to bring in mind the melo-romantic grunts of the Lumineers which risks it not ageing as gracefully as it would have. On the other hand, ‘Emma’ sees the vocal performance err more towards being a falsetto and the guitar playing more like a heavy, disheartened strum. It feels like it would have passed as an emo song – and it yet falls flat when it comes to sentimentality. What would’ve been the usual mind-bender of a song with its horn-like backing guitar and its acoustic variant as the lead instrumental instead feels bloated. It aspires to reach the highs when it could settle on slimming downward. After all, less is more.

Faults aside, Patience, Moonbeam hits its high points from its last three tracks ignoring a short self-titled interlude. ‘Top Gun’ hits the indie folk impression hard and is essentially an antithesis to ‘Emma’ in how it succeeds in creating the mixed feelings of always wanting to pursue your freedom. The production still notably sticks its landing with the delicate additions of the echo effect and the faded percussion that’s seeming in the back for the mixing. However, it doesn’t devour the entire song and it instead allows us to take in the liberties we take for granted. ‘Ephemera’ is among the most psychedelic-sounding in the tracklist with its otherworldly mixing of the vocals and drumming alongside the warped guitar riff that’s comparable to a musique concrete project. The final result is that of a subtly lush and seductively angelic song that fits well as a penultimate record of the album.

‘Kid’ is the final track and it proves itself to be the hallmark of the band’s achievements despite its simplistic title. It is very Beatlesque in its intent. From the more orchestral use of its backing instrumentation with the violins and the pianos, the daring experimental use of autotune to accompany a vocal harmony in the beginning, and its numerous parts in its song structure, it dares to end the album with a bang. And what a bang it is! It is at times emotional with how it’s based on the attempt to comfort a loved one, epic with its climatic guitar solo, and yet energetic in its buildup. That Great Grandpa isn’t talked about as often as their contemporaries in regards to the kind of musicians people should pay more attention to now is an offense when you have a cut as good as ‘Kid’! It is among one of the best songs of the year and it could well strike the hearts of newcomers who are just about to listen to the band for the first time.

Patience, Moonbeam is one of the stronger albums of the year. Behind its seemingly straightforward brand of indie rock hides a lot of ambitions that clearly intend on matching the apex of Isaac Brock’s creativity. While it might have overstepped its marks from time to time, it never seems to disquiet its production and its array of sub-genre influences. I would admit on a more general level that the lyrical side of the album didn’t quite hit the poetry or literary level that would push its entire textures to the next level. Nevertheless, this is the album that should draw a lot more interest towards Great Grandpa. Fans of indie rock would love this even if it doesn’t carve out a new path for many to put their imaginations to practice. I certainly enjoy it in all its endeavour.

4.1/5