Great Grandpa - “Digger”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 9; Popularity Index: 5

Pairs Well With…Soccer Mommy, Big Thief, Angel Olsen

Balancing heavy and light with an expert touch, Great Grandpa’s sophomore record Four of Arrows is a revelatory release of emotive bedroom-grunge rock and one the stronger front-to-back albums of 2019. The Seattle band smartly bleeds the tracks of Four of Arrows into one another, a thread that embeds itself within Great Grandpa’s ever-changing patterns. They don’t move like a prog rock band however, rather there are modes of strings and mandolin (“English Garden”), spacey pop synths (“Mono no Aware”) and classical piano (“Endling”) to embellish their consistently vulnerable power. It’s a stunning record that reveals itself more listen after listen, finely detailed and incredibly mature for the band’s second full-length. Great Grandpa’s experimentation is so expressive and natural, more dynamic than tripped out. Some brighter moments spark Four of Arrows (“Rosalie”, “Treat Jar”), but it’s in the raw, guitar-led moments like full, one-two-punch openers “Dark Green Water” and “Digger” that act both visceral and heady in moments quiet and turned up to eleven. It’s a truly gorgeous forty-five minutes of music and puts Great Grandpa at the top of emotional grunge revivalists right now. (Kevin McStravick)