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Grandaddy:
Sumday
You have just finished and released an album that you like very much. It is not your first album; in fact it is the follow-up to an album that was very well-received critically. Unfortunately, it seems that this time around, though generally well received, your album is being labeled as derivative of a recent and critically adored release by a significantly more famous group of chaps. What do you do? Well, if you are Granddaddy, you wait a few years and release your next album on the same day that those other guys release their newest incredibly anticipated album, and while you are at it, you do nothing about your themes or sound to appease your critics. Oh yeah, and when you put out Sumday, its going to be really good. Maybe saying that nothing has been done to the themes or sound is overstating the case. Certainly, in the last three years Granddaddy has lost none of its songwriting prowess or lyrical sincerity, but there are places on Sumday where a slight shift in style and tone is noticeable. This shift is most notable in the slightly increased studio quality of the recording, the lighter mood, and more playful lyrics. None of these changes manifest themselves as a jarring break or movement away from the bands core artistic vision though. Indeed, the weakness of the human spirit and the inevitable triumph of commercialism and technocracy still seem to be the primary issues that Granddaddy wrestles with. But in songs which, on The Sophtware Slump, vocalist Jason Lytle would have pulled out all the melancholy stops, on Sumday, the tear-jerking is integrated with a more admirable subtlety. This results in songs such as The Group Who Couldnt Say and Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake, which thematically could hang with songs from The Sophtware Slump any day, but which are executed with a humor and emotionally expressive complexity that is new to Sumday. Fans of Granddaddys previous efforts will surely be able to jive with this new disc. It has everything there was to love in both Under the Western Freeway and The Sophtware Slump, filtered through unexpected optimism and the hand of more experienced songwriting. For all those who passed on what was being sold as Granddaddys version of OK Computer, when you are out buying Hail to the Thief, you may want to consider picking up Sumday along with it. You may be pleasantly surprised.
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