Grand Lake are musical chameleons from Oakland and the only thing they’ve maintained since their inception is creating a truly enjoyable brand of music which is unabashedly unique and unapologetic. Seeing a couple of changes in lineup in the past couple of years, the band currently consists of four friends—frontman Caleb Nichols (previously of Port O Brien), John Pomeroy, Jameson Swanagon, and his wife Danae.
Grand Lake has traveled far and wide to reach Blood Sea Dream. While the first EP featured keyboard harmonies, the second heralded a revival of 90’s angst (two of the four of the songs were covers). Blood Sea Dream, the band’s first full length debut, nods heavily to classically influenced alternative music—think Antony and the Johnsons, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros—but delivers it with the impassioned snarl of bands like Hüsker Dü . “Riderless Horse” catalogues the oddly thrilling loneliness which derives from company of literature—“a bottle of Jack, some Kerouac and a Greyhound window seat.” This record is for anyone who has ever found themselves stranded without any hope of rescue or redemption. Sonically magnificent and emotionally crippling, Blood Sea Dream embraces everything which everyone seems to run away from: misery, abandonment, self-doubt. The violin work on “Our Divorce” alone should be enough to get you in the fetal position. The tracks found on previous releases—“Louise”, “Black Cloud”, “Oedipus Hex” and “Concrete Blond on Blonde”—have seen such a drastic, mature transformation that they are barely recognizable from their original form. Blood Sea Dream echoes and the music swirls inwardly—like a Do the Collapse-era Guided By Voices—an interesting deviation from the band’s live performances which project with a force that can knock you off your feet.
4.3/5
Blood Sea Dream drops on Tuesday, 25 May. Grand Lake play The Fillmore with OK GO the following day. don't be a fool. head on out.
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2 comments:
Love. See you Wednesday.
weird. watch spongebob instead.
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