Sumday
Sumdaydoesn't so much represent a stylistic change for Grandaddy as it does a change in attitude.The Sophtware Slump, its predecessor, superbly combined low-budget experimentalism and country-tinged American pop to evoke everyone from theFlaming LipstoNeil YoungtoELO.Sumdayfinds the California band conducting business as usual, though exhibiting a noticeably brighter mood. "I got not reason to be weathered and withery / Like in the season of the old me," Jason Lytle sings on opener, "Now It's On," demonstrating a newfound optimism that rears its sunny head throughout the album. "The Group Who Couldn't Say" could have been a bitter tirade against the music industry, but it's not, saved by Lytle's fragile voice, which is sweet without being naïve. "Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake," meanwhile, is carried along by a bouncy keyboard riff that's reminiscent ofUnder the Western Freeway's "A.M. 180," but with more playful lyrics. Even slower, more melancholy songs such as "Yeah Is What We Had," "The Warming Sun," and "Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World" retain the quality that Grandaddy's trademark sound: simple music played on a grand scale.--Robert Burrow