Grantura

by Dan Worth

Tennessee, in a hat

"It’s impressive how many sounds these guys can cover and master them all. It’s this kind of talent that separates the good from the great."

What year is it? It is 2008 isn’t it? Listening to Grantura you could be forgiven for getting confused. Their sound wraps up so many sounds from previous eras that you might need to check that calender. But this is no meaningless homage, a pointless pastiche – this is a sincere sound, that uses many styles that come together to create an enjoyable and worthwhile sound that never loses sight of putting the tune and melody before everything else.

Their latest album ‘In Dreams and Other Stories’ opens with ‘Waves’, which opens with the sound of crashing waves and a seagull, which sounds cheesy on screen, but it leads into a song that is a mandolin-tinged upbeat piece of summery folk-pop. And in some ways it almost does almost sound like a series of crashing waves. Such ability means that from the first listen their songs have a captivating originality that is often sorely missing from other bands. That they’re doing this with songs that are pleasing on the ear, catchy and yet clearly nothing resembling lightweight is a joy to behold.

‘Land of the Big Skies’ is cinematic in it’s intro – tabla drums, hypnotic picked guitar lines and majestic, sweeping vocals that echo around slide guitar parts…before morphing into a right old ho-down. On other songs there are harmonies reminiscent of The Beach Boys at their most tolerable, namely ‘Lazarous’, while ‘Sunshine’ is a country-ballad with melancholic strings that you could hear in any bar in certain parts of America. It’s impressive how many sounds these guys can cover any master them all. It’s this kind of talent that separates the good from the great.

All this praise and we haven’t even come to the best part – they’re from South East London! You’d never see it coming from the sounds they cover but now you know. Let’s end with a nice piece of random information – on their MySpace they describe their sound as ‘Tennessee, in a hat’, which has a strange stab of the truth about it.

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