Photo credit: West Smith
Originally hailing from Seattle, Great Grandpa’s members found themselves scattered all over the United States following the promo trail for 2017’s record ‘Plastic Cough’. Although this time away from each other wasn’t planned, it led to the band taking stock and refocusing their sound for new album ‘Four of Arrows’ – the playful quips about pizza and zombies have been replaced by thoughtful musings on family relationships, vulnerability and mental health. Now signed to BSM (pre-orders/bundles available here), the band have shared ‘Mono no Aware’ for a tantalising glimpse into what to expect over these 11 new songs…
Inspired by the works of Never Let Me Go author Kazuo Ishiguro, Pat Goodwin states the melancholy four and a half minutes is ‘an admission that we, as thinking, feeling beings, are always in a state of beautiful loss’ as we look back with fondness over our childhoods and the loss of innocence. Sitting alongside Big Thief, Better Oblivion Community Center and Stars, the pop-tinged arrangements and production from Vernon Davis (Modest Mouse) add extra clarity as Alex Menne repeatedly asks ‘Do you feel the same thing that I do?’ with a tinge of hope and offers powerful lines of self-reassurance amidst observations on empty diners: ‘I’m thinking I’m doing OK those days’; ‘I called you up just to say it will be here even if you’re not, it will be here even if I’m not’.
