Having started out as the solo project of lead singer/songwriter Aleks Martray, Philadelphia's
Grandchildren evolved into an immersive, Baroque pop outfit. It was a sound they embraced on 2015's layered
Zuni, and one they've developed even further since the addition of vocalist Shari Bolar in 2017. Blessed with a dusky, soulful voice that matches Martray's perfectly, Bolar is one of the main reasons that the group's fourth full-length album, 2019's eponymous
Grandchildren, is such a moving leap forward. Cuts like "Gravity," "Motherboard," and "Only One" are atmospheric, intensely lyrical songs full of deep basslines, measured piano gravitas, and Martray and Bolar's hypnotic, harmonized croon. It's a sound that evokes the style of the late
Elliott Smith, balancing folky melodicism with a fatalistic goth moodiness. The
Smith influence is also keenly felt on the delicate anthem "I Want It Bad" which, with its fingerpicked acoustic guitar, sounds something like an '80s college rock take on
Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The album's sustained vibe of moody heartbreak takes its most potent form on the noirish, early-'60s-style ballad "Phantom Pains," in which Martray and Bolar's voices intertwine in desperate agony against a spiraling guitar hook, and dynamic backdrop of dark orchestral swells. Conceptually, the album implies an undercurrent storyline detailing the end of a couple's relationship; a notion reinforced by having two vocalists. That said, the band never push too hard in that direction. Instead,
Grandchildren offer a work of literate and sonic maturity that sticks with you like the memory of an old flame. ~ Matt Collar