Review Summary: Goin’ to the cabin in my mind
Grandaddy’s first album in seven years apparently derives its name from the fusion of two phrases - “bluegrass” and “new wave”. While I wouldn’t say either of those genre descriptors is really an accurate portrayal of
Blue Wav, their combination is ultimately fitting. This is a record wholly confident in its chosen dreamy and slow-paced country-meets-indie sound, and deviations from that formula are nearly nonexistent. It’s the songs’ feeling of suspended animation, all blended shimmer and weepy guitar, melancholic but warm, which sells the final product. This is an album which scratches the same kind of itch as acts like Yo La Tengo, Pinback, and Iron & Wine, despite their disparate styles - the sonic embodiment of that “summer haze as twilight descends” kind of feeling. I think you know exactly what I mean, you fellow romantic reading a review on an obscure music website. Sonically, the best reference points here might be Sparklehorse’s more pastoral side (unsurprisingly) and the reverb-and-twang earliest era of My Morning Jacket (less obviously). In the end, I haven’t mentioned a single song title on
Blu Wav, and that’s not because I’m a terrible reviewer (or at least that’s not the only reason), but more due to the fact that this is one of those records where the mood is king. Large swaths of runtime will prove utterly forgettable under most listening conditions, but if you let this album in, you’ll probably remember it at just the right moment in your life when everything falls into place to derive maximum enjoyment. I’ve spent way too much time looking at the tiny album artwork on Spotify trying to deduce if that twinkly patch in the middle of
Blu Wav’s cover is a depiction of Christmas lights, a city skyline by night, or some outer space phenomenon like a nebula. I’m still not sure and that’s rather fitting. Grandaddy’s latest feels slightly remote but wholeheartedly nostalgic, the synthesis of deeply personal loneliness and some kind of cosmic greater meaning, and all three of my theories seem perfectly suitable. Weary but still imbued with plenty of heart,
Blu Wav is all you can ask for as the return of Jason Lytle’s long-running indie project.
