GRANT LEE PHILLIPS - Strangelet Review

While his recent album of '80s covers was a strangely tepid affair, singer/songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips rarely disappoints with his own introspective material. The gripping Strangelet strives for a tricky balance of darkness and light, lacing gloomy folk-rock melodies with messages of hope, and mostly succeeds, thanks to the raw charisma of Phillips' hangover vocals. ...full text It’s all speculation really. An atom of inspiration comes hurtling through our galaxy at nearly a million miles per hour, a microscopic mite rocketing through a solid ice-sheet of apathy and indolence and twenty-seconds later on the lateral side of our brain, the speeding atom explodes and a lightning spread of nerve-activity sees it spin-off into another dimension – and sometimes bearing the germ of an idea, a tune, perhaps. It’s pollination at a cerebral level....full text You could be forgiven thinking that Grant Lee Buffalo was still around if you heard what Grant-Lee Phillips was doing in his solo career. His music is not so drastically different that it makes much sense to the outsider why that band had to end, but then it doesn't matter much either way - the quality work continues, and that's all that really matters....full text