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| Slantmagazine |
 Jason Lytle may have retired his former band, Grandaddy, but it's hard to tell from his solo debut, Yours Truly, the Commuter. Importing his unassuming, wispy tenor, the electronic flourishes he brings to his lonely brand of folk, and a twitchy distrust of both technology and his fellow man, Lytle doesn't stray far from what his small but devoted fanbase has come to expect. His songwriting is as sharp and distinctive as ever: Lytle is quick to declare the end of days on both personal and global levels on standout songs like "Brand New Sun" and "I Am Lost (And the Moment Cannot Last)," tempering his self-deprecation and paranoia with genuine wit and a keen observational eye. Lyrically, these songs are a step up from the last two Grandaddy releases, the off-putting Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP and low-key swan song Just Like the Fambly Cat. There's also a nice structural balance to Commuter, with a surprisingly optimistic streak in its opening run of songs undercut by a retreat into despair and loneliness on songs like "This Song Is the Mute Button" and, in its latter half, "Here for Good." Still, there's the feeling that Lytle is coasting here, particularly in terms of adhering so tightly to the trademark sound of his former band. While there's something to be said for Lytle's having defined a clear aesthetic vision over the course of his career, the intricate but predictable production he brings to these predominantly midtempo songs doesn't explore any new facets of that aesthetic. Commuter may be a welcome return of an idiosyncratic talent, but it also finds Lytle a bit too stuck in his own head to stand alongside Grandaddy's most challenging, accomplished albums....full text |
| Blogcritics |
| After disbanding Grandaddy three years ago to spend some away time elevating himself, singer/songwriter Jason Lytle has happily returned to the home studio. Produced in his relocated digs in the wilds of Montana, Yours Truly, the Commuter (Anti) finds our thoughtful hero holding up in a snowbound winter, ruminating on life, mortality, and decay. Usual themes for the former Modesto skateboarder (check out the photo of his scratched-up legs on the CD booklet!), but still appropriate for these struggling times. Lytle's first official solo disc sounds of a piece with the music he released as the leader of Grandaddy: lots of emphasis on strumming folkiness and mid tempo rockin' spiced with faux orchestral and electro flourishes. If the CD begins to flag a bit by the last five or six tracks (could've used a skate punk track like "50%," perhaps), a quick shuffle will get you noticing the disc's later sweeter moments like "Rollin Home Alone," which sounds exactly like Grandaddy fans can already hear in their minds. The opener title song sets things up succinctly, Lytle telling us in that high-pitched, contemplatively resigned croon of his that "I may be limping, but I'm coming home." The conflicting desires to sing to the world and hide away from it provide meaty lyrical subject matter -- in "The Birds Encouraged Him," a nameless boy tries to hide in a hole as the sounds of nature keep trying to force him out of it -- though at times the listener can't help worrying whether Lytle's own retreat into the mountains hasn't blinkered his distinctive eye for lyrical specificity. No refs to Ikea lamps or rusting El Caminos here, folks....full text |
| Tinymixtapes |
| Jason Lytle has never seemed like the happiest dude. His interviews following the dissolution of Grandaddy, the Modesto band that he long fronted, spoke to a terminal dourness, a deep-seated depression that has always served as the foundation for even his cheeriest-sounding music. Life probably isn’t going so easily when you’re happier singing about dead robots than you are about yourself — not to make generalizations or anything. But by the time Grandaddy released their final album, the beautiful (though inert) Just Like The Fambly Cat, Lytle hardly seemed to have lost all sense of joy. Three years since its release, the album serves as a de facto concept album about being in a band from California that’s about to break up. It was an unsettling moment, hearing a moderately successful band struggling to admit that life just wasn’t working out the way it was supposed to. Yours Truly, The Commuter, Jason Lytle’s solo debut picks up where Fambly Cat left off. Commuter is a moody, defensive shrug of an album that, despite its depressive tone, feels oddly empowering. Any person who opens a record with the words “Last thing I heard I’d been left for dead/ I could give two shits about what they said/ I may be limping but I’m coming home” deserves credit for blunt honesty. That opening track (which provides the record’s title) sets the album’s tone marvelously; buoyed by synths, the song rises above the depression, rather than sinking into it. Like its title track, Yours Truly, The Commuter is sad but sprightly....full text |
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