Little Moon – Grant-Lee Phillips (Yep Roc)

Grant-Lee Phillips would have to be one of the most reliable recording artists of the past fifteen or so years. From his band records under the Grant-Lee Buffalo banner to a string of solo albums, he has barely put a foot wrong. He hasn’t ever threatened to become a monster act either but for his loyal legion of admirers that’s probably an acceptable state of affairs.

I hope his bank manager shares the comfort of his fans about his place in the contemporary music hierarchy.

Little Moon is another fine example of Phillips main attributes – thoughtful, enlightened songwriting, a command of various attitudes (from the wryly humorous to sweetly melancholy to gently provocative) and a very good taste in music collaborators.

As usual with Phillips there’s a number of layers to this album. He offers up a couple of the jaunty vaudevillian tunes of which he specialises. These are the opening track Good Morning Happiness which is as cheerful as you would like him to get (before becoming a commercial for butter) and the albums closer The Sun Shines on Jupiter which sounds like the sort of tune you’d hear in a quaint old fashioned English village pub, complete with a sing-a-long finale.

Sandwiched between these bookends are some very fine songs. Strangest Thing is perhaps the “biggest”, most bombastic song on the album and it evokes the sonics of early Waterboys.

The title track is one of those ‘small pure object’ songs that Phillips usually manages to include. He likes to take an aesthetically pleasing image and twist it around and hold it up to the light to find its most appealing angle.

It Aint The Same Old Cold War Harry is another jaunty song but this one is less vaudeville and more like a song that Phillips compatriot in Largo based song Aimee Mann may have written.

If this album was to have a single (and in fact if such a thing as a single existed any more!) it would probably be Seal It With a Kiss. It’s a song that wouldn’t be out of place on most of Phillips previous albums but its instant familiarity isn’t a drawback.

Nightbirds, Violet, Buried Treasure, the poignant Older Now and One Morning are all quiet, alluring songs build around Phillips subtly delivered languorous vocal. They are all different to each other but all clearly the work of the same focussed artist. The latter in particular benefits from a bravely defiant lyric that captures the fading dreams of the everyman with respect and sympathy.

But perhaps my favorite song on the album is Blind Tom – the true life antidote the Piano Man! It’s an observation and a fable and litany all at once and it contains the heart rending lyric “Here’s a little song, I learned it from the wind, I heard it on the wind last night”. It’s delivered in such an affectionate way that you can almost hear the song referred to. Blind Tom is a little gem hidden away at Track 9 and it elevates Little Moon from a good to a great Grant-Lee album.