Staff Reviews

Grandaddy - Last Place

Review by Derek Robertson

It’s the magnum opus you feel Lytle has been building towards for 20 years»

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Welcome back Grandaddy! You have been missed, as the incredible, and incredibly packed, show at Oslo last year proved. After Grandaddy broke up in 2006, the band's frontman Jason Lytle relocated to Montana, where he happily made two solo albums, and reconnected with the natural world around him. Eventually, though, life uprooted him again, taking him to Portland, Oregon until he eventually returned to his former home of Modesto, California. The return to California was practical (he needed to be near his bandmates) but also appropriate: he had started writing songs that he felt would be fitting for another Grandaddy album. The result is a perfect addition to the band's celebrated, critically­ acclaimed catalogue, that includes their breakthrough sophomore album, Sophtware Slump, and their debut, Under the Western Freeway. It's a symphonic swirl of lo­fi sonics and mile­high harmonies, found sounds and electronics­gone­awry mingling with perfect, power pop guitar tones. Lytle's voice sounds as warm and intimate as ever, giving graceful levity to the doomsday narratives that have dominated the Grandaddy output. When it came time to release the record, Grandaddy found an ally in artist, producer, and label owned Danger Mouse who notes, "Grandaddy's music has had a big influence on me and the new album almost sounds like it could fit between Sophtware Slump and Sumday."
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