Weekly Release Spotlight: Sebastien Grainger
Posted on 11/09/2008
Sebastien Grainger
Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains
[Saddle Creek]
There's a line in the world of roaring rock music that is hardly ever straddled: that of cavernous vs. stadium sound. More often than not, the indie shouters with four-track recorders and homemade guitar pedals project the former – a stench of muddied darkness and distorted entrapment. Conversely, the mainstream arena tourers turn on the bright lights with sunny backup synth players and thousands of fists pumping in the air, often with overpriced nachos in hand. The two sides of the coin never met, but ostensibly existed with the same purpose in mind: wow the audience and instill in their hearts a sense of "this just may be the last party on the planet."
Former Death From Above 1979'er Sebastien Grainger wants everyone to know that this line can be straddled, and with ease and enjoyment, not a sense of pandering and/or confusion. Pulling together a team of metaphorical Mountains that sound both pop-rock solid and like an avalanche could tumble down them at any moment, the Canadian's semi-eponymous debut full-length does indeed sound like a simultaneous solo ego-stroke and rollicking group effort. This isn't a bad duality, though. Rather, it only strengthens the sound Grainger wants to create -- twice the power to exhilarate the listener and enough self-importance to let every care in the world go, except rocking the eff out, of course.
Don't get the wrong idea; the record reels the listener in personally as much as it does with sheer prodigious strength. Even though Grainger's voice is lost in the wavering wall of sound much of the time, choruses such as those in "Love Can Be So Mean" and "I Hate My Friends" feel as despondently aching as they do anthemic and enlivening. "American Names," which was released with bonus tracks earlier this year in EP format, moves and shakes quite harder in the context of these songs. "And you can't wait to get up when the clock strikes 5 A.M.," he throbs out as the beat rises, and while the message is painful when read, it's persuasive as all get out when heard. This is an apocalyptic party that hurts emotionally but rocks physically, and everyone's invited.
Stream: Sebastien Grainger - By Cover of Night (Fire Fight)
Sebastien Grainger will be playing at the 7th St. Entry on November 24th.
Written by Chris Polley, Radio K volunteer and host of Now Like Photographs.