For those seeking a haunting, cinematic edge to the spring and early summer, Grackles delivers an album chock full of resonating vocals and delightfully edgy melodies.
Formed in 2022, the band — consisting of Noah Lit, Jason Mozersky, and Jimmy Paxson — set out on a mission to combine their sonic creativity in order to establish a whimsical, gripping listening experience.
This is most recently displayed on their new self-titled album, which showcases their musical abilities through the blending of Americana, rock, country, and blues elements, fusing them to create an emotional rollercoaster that ultimately feels dark yet comforting, like a late summer night.
The album opens with their final single, “It’s Comin To Ya,” a track marked by its soft vintage bass contrasted with Lit’s growling voice. Surely the eeriest but perhaps most endearing track on the album, the tempo and his breathy vocals make this track commanding and poignant. “Ready to give / But I’d just as soon take / Ready to make one last mistake,” he sings, toeing the line between haunting and comforting.
Despite its start, the entire album cannot be encompassed by dark and eerie elements; the eighth track, “Far Away From Nothing,” takes a gentler route, the song’s hopeful guitar and upbeat tempo joining with the vocals of Kat Edmonson to make an explosion of folky, Americana tenderness.
Despite the upbeat sound, the song’s lyrics nod to darker emotions of isolation: “The lights from downtown / In this field are so far away / You left me cold and alone / So far away from nothing.”
Another track of note is the final one in “Send Back the Roses,” which offers the appropriate energy and feel of a dramatic final ballad, and a last call for hope.
“Send back the roses,” takes its time building up to the title chorus, introducing its aching horns and slow tempo first. “When love’s just a token / And everything’s broken and sharp / You’ll send back the roses,” Lit croons, its sweeping grandness a staple of the band’s noir-rock feel.
Grackles is an album heavily influenced by Mozersky and Lit’s time spent in Austin, Texas, time-marked by a blending of the Austin of the past with modern sounds and ideas. The band joins the old and new with its contemporary blending of sounds to create a nostalgic, Western vibe, accompanied by enchanting vocals and blues-esque grooves.
Melancholy and the upbeat simplicity of rock and country elements join hands to create a listening experience that’s dark, fun, and essentially Grackles.
