After drifting apart across the world following their 2019 breakthrough album Four of Arrows, Great Grandpa return with Patience, Moonbeam. The formula is similar and the heart of the band remains the same, but this is a much more experienced band with a much more mature sound.
Opening with the dark, brooding, ‘Sleep’ the album eases you in before being met with the layers of strings on ‘Never Rest’. The clean finger picked acoustic notes over the top of various layers of strings give it an alt-country feel not too dissimilar to that of Big Thief or Black Country, New Road. This sound sticks throughout the record, with pedal steel, violins and banjos all having their part in various tracks.
‘Junior’ keeps the mellow vibe intact, with its beautiful vocal harmonies and acoustic strumming. Al Menne’s vocals shine on this track in particular with his distinct voice gripping you throughout the track.
It’s clear on the album that this is an album made by friends, its organic and nothing feels forced. Sometimes it may be disjointed, sometimes it may be complicated but that’s all part of the charm. With all the band members getting on with their lives and temporarily going separate ways following Four of Arrows, this feels like a much needed catch up between friends.
There’s a mixture of genre influences scattered throughout the album though, even with it leaning heavily into layered acoustics. ‘Kiss The Dice’ steps into alt/indie pop territory and is followed by ‘Doom’ where things really kick in with its heavily distorted guitars and driving chorus.
The album closes with ‘Kid’ which is the albums huge emotional ending. Written by bassist and guitarists Carrie and Pat Goodwin after the loss of their first pregnancy, the song was the lead single and potentially the best track of album. In typical Great Grandpa fashion, the band doesn’t stick to a structure and they let the song flow through the emotions to the albums perfect ending.
This is an album that doesn’t come around very often. It’s strange that something so chaotic can be so brilliant but that’s exactly what Patience, Moonbeam is. A quarter of the way into 2025, Great Grandpa have dropped an album that will be in album of the year conversations to come.
