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Forget everything you know about Grandaddy
and remember everything you love about Wilco’s
unfiltered songwriting and Death Cab For
Cutie’s cozy production sensibilities.
Grandaddy guitarist Jim Fairchild
is prepared to step out of the shadows and transcend
the legacy of his now-defunct former band.
All Smiles finds Fairchild leading
on almost all fronts. For his debut album, Ten
Readings Of A Warning, he wears
all hats with the exception of the drum work,
which was handled by a mix of folks, including
the players from Modest Mouse,
Menomena Sleater-Kinney
and Great Northern.
In the indie scene, it would seem the number-one
tactic to ensuring eventual and long-lasting success
is to find yourself on the various “Best
Albums of the Year” lists that permeate
indie media each winter. While it’s only
May in what is shaping up to be yet another busy
year of much-anticipated releases, All Smiles’
premier effort gets an early “finalist”
position in said lists.
The 11 tracks on Ten Readings never
stray too far from home, opting to stay fairly
close to the comfort of its piano, acoustic guitar
and standard melody model. And while Fairchild’s
instrumentation might toe a fairly straight line,
he throws in enough hooks, fills and ambient bits
to ensure Ten Readings doesn’t
die a generic death.
Quite the contrary, the result is an even-tempered,
consistent 38 minutes of nostalgic reflection
-- at times as atmospheric as Magnet (minus the
over-the-top production); at other times as painfully
beautiful as a Jeff Tweedy lyric without the utter
despair. If Ten Readings is any indication of
what’s to come from Fairchild, life after
Grandaddy will indeed be just fine.
www.myspace.com/allsmilesmusic
www.dangerbirdrecords.com
-Dave Haucke, May 9, 2007
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