Mojave

Flying Low He calls himself "Robert," but the Willard Grant Conspiracy singer-lyricist is obviously Nick Cave's long-lost twin brother. Imagine him stolen Stateside and reared in rural Massachusetts, host to most of Cave's eloquent sensualism but less of his suicidal romanticism and starchy...	Let It Roll Bandleader Robert Fisher doesn't just write about the corners of the soul where death, revenge, transcendence, and spiritual crisis confuse human will. On the Willard Grant Conspiracy's brilliant sixth album, Fisher conjures them in grand sonic chiaroscuro: bright and brooding te...	Everything's Fine This Boston collective has quickly ascended to the top of the mood-and-brood heap, mostly because their music ably balances the gloom and doom with stateliness and serenity. Everything's Fine, their fourth effort, again achieves this precarious balance. Revolving around principal...	Regard the End While lead singer and principal songwriter Robert Fisher is obsessed with folk archetypes--the drowned and the damned, murder-ballad ghosts, and gospel sojourners--and liberally taps traditional sources, these dark, forbidding songs aren't merely arcane or gothic. "Sufferings goi...	There But for the Grace of God: A Short History of the Willard Grant Consp
In the Fishtank	Pilgrim Road UK pressing of the 2008 album from the musical collective that surrounds songwriter Robert Fisher. Pilgrim Road features orchestral instruments mixed with more traditional band instruments in a collection of songs written and recorded in Glasgow, Scotland. The record features mus...	Gossip In The Grain 1. You Are The Best Thing 2. Let It Be Me 3. Sarah 4. I Still Care For You 5. Winter Birds 6. Meg White 7. Hey Me, Hey Mama 8. Henry Nearly Killed Me 9. A Falling Through 10. Gossip In The Grain	Little Honey Lucinda Williams does anguish and despondency so well it's easy to forget that Happy Woman Blues is not just the title of her 1980 album, but also the way she thinks of herself and her music. That identity comes across with full force in Little Honey, the follow-up to 2007's beau...	Fleet Foxes It's now twenty years since grunge emerged from then culturally isolated Seattle and Fleet Foxes, the eponymous debut album from the city's latest heroes, demonstrates just how much American independent rock has mutated in that time. The five young members of Fleet Foxes make up ...

crash test dummies,my ass!!!
Great cd,great band.Enough said!!!

Ominous and Rustic but Disappointing
Mojave is filled with sad and beautiful rustic songs. Its very reminicent of old Crash Test Dummies. Superman's Song from CTD's 1st album would fit right into Mojave -- almost. Mojave feels less contrived, less hook oriented. Its soul is truer. Its dark and ominous storm clouds weighted with rain. Each song is superbly crafted. This would be the perfect album for driving along country roads at dusk. Its a puzzle why WGC chose to inlude Go Jimmy Go. On its own it's not a bad song but a rocker like that is a definite mood ruiner when listening to the whole album.Why only 1 star? I didn't like them. There's nothing wrong with them per se, it just lacks something to make them work. Maybe its the Crash Test Dummies vocals.

I'm impressed
I watch the stars run away/ They can't wait to leave/ the sky today/---Thus begins Another Lonely Night, the first track of Willard Grant Conspiracy's _Mojave_. And it got me. Bad. It's a beautiful song.The rest of the album is uneven and repetitive, but it has moments of sheer brilliance. Take Archy's Lullaby, for instance...slow, beautiful, haunting. It's one of those songs that glues itself to one's mind. Take The Work Song and its lovely lyrics...soothing, and peace inspiring.The Nick Cave comparison doesn't really strike me as appropriate. WGC's vocalist sounds a lot like Nick, but the music is also a lot different. It might appeal to Cave's fans though. I know I am one, and I loved WGC.But anyway, this is a band that needs to be discovered. They're _very_ good.

Devastaingly somber, deeply foreboding music.
The cumulative effect of listening to these story-songs, steeped in rich lyrical detail that's allusive rather than conclusive is like hearing a summer storm brewing in the dark distance. It only sounds quiet, but you know what's coming.