This album has so much heart, so much sincerity behind it that you can’t help but love it. Beautiful lyrics, excellent guitar tones, just enough rhythmic complexity – it’s like a rich slice of pie you eat silently at a family gathering, waiting for the next big thing to happen.
With differing time zones and work hours separating the members of Great Grandpa, their follow-up to 2017’s grunge-influenced Plastic Cough had every reason to sound safe and familiar. Instead, without meaning to, the five-piece recorded an album of emo, alternative, and folk-rock hybrids. Four Of Arrows is an immediate listen; these songs are earnest and worried, seemingly always reaching for hope that’s just out of grasp. But they never sound defeated, at least not with friends by their sides. It’s as if by experiencing major changes individually, they saw all the ways in which Great Grandpa could blossom together.
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Four of Arrows, a creative turn toward introspection and Great Grandpa’s collective result of rest and solitude. Undoubtedly, the 11 songs comprising Four of Arrows are a departure from the playful nods to pizza and zombies on Plastic Cough. The writing and recording process had evolved – less Seattle garage jams and more vulnerable solo songwriting sessions. Most of the songs on Four of Arrows were written in isolation by Patrick and Carrie Goodwin while traveling and living in the Midwest.
The band instantly found common threads between their individual contributions, citing mutual love and admiration for vulnerable and emotionally resonate music. Four of Arrows embraces subtlety and pays close attention to the quiet. From the methodical dirge of “Dark Green Water” into the haunting and howling guitar of “Digger” – Great Grandpa try something new by letting the acoustic guitar and piano lay the foundation for many of the album’s tracks.
Released October 25th, 2019
