Review Summary: Grandaddy's first steps.
Grandaddy is a band that just came up on my radar about a month ago with their newest release,
Blu Wav, and let me tell you guys, that album absolutely wrecked me. The hyper emotional blend of dream pop and americana with the subtle synth work just hit all the right spots for me and prompted me to start jamming the rest of Grandaddy's discog.
Under the Western Freeway was my third stop on the Grandaddy tour and it just solidifies my growing feelings for them.
This album is Grandaddy at their most stripped down and lo-fi and honestly is a drastic change to the Grandaddy we know in 2024. Of course that is to be expected with a debut album. The dream pop elements that makes
Blu Wav so special are all but nonexistent here. Instead Jason Lytle and company go for a sound that I would describe as melodic and raw slowcore mixed with some 90s grunge and a hint of americana. The expertly done synth work is still heavily present in the background, giving each track a glitchy and warm vibe. Jason's oftentimes off key sounding vocals behind the heavy wall of reverbed riffage is hypnotic as hell. His crooning and wailing is the main draw to Grandaddy for me, portraying the raw emotion that oozes from their pores. The guitar work here is unusually heavy for an indie album, not in a metal way but in a sense that makes you wanna bang your head along to every song.
One of Grandaddy's biggest strengths is their ability to create music that gets stuck in your head for days on end. Whether it be the punky riffs on a track like Summer Here Kids, the alien abduction lyrics of Everything Beautiful is Far Away or the barren wasteland of hazy droning ambience that is the title track, these guys have a knack for catchiness.
Under the Western Freeway is Grandaddy in their infancy. They may have still been working out the kinks of what their sound would go on to be, but it turns out that their "working out" just happens to be better than loads of other bands making this kind of music. This album, and this band in general honestly, is perfect feel good spring/summer music. It's the perfect album to throw on in the car on a 70 degree day with the windows down. Jason and the boys are masters at creating natural sounding music. They never try too hard and the end result always ends up being absolute magic.
Under the Western Freeway is no different.
