Grado delivers an amazing album with his self-titled debut, it has a vintage feel that strangely sounds so refreshing. Plus there’s hints of inspiration from great musicians (read the interview for who) and he just serves a 10 song piece of creative gold.This is an album worth listening over and over again, just so smooth and relaxing. You feel his experiences and his travels with each song.
If you notice on my review I talk about mixing in more contemporary sounds, I shall explain this because I did love the album. But I believe that there’s room to grow and I truly think that mixing his unique vintage like sound with something more contemporary could create a new sound (something only Grado could do) that can truly reach everyone. But that’s just my brain thinking ideas and what not – but hey maybe he does give it a shot.
[headline type=”type2″ color=”#000000″ size=”h2″]Interview with Grado[/headline]
[aesop_content color=”#000000″ background=”#ffffff” columns=”3″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]How’s your writing process like?
It all comes to me in dreams. No, not really. It’s a lot of work. The first phase is to go foraging for ideas. For this, you need a guitar and a thing to record, plus ideally a small quantity of alcohol. The second phase involves listening back to the awful noises you made, in the cold light of day, and hoping there is a grain of solid inspiration in among the effluent. The third phase involves walking around aimlessly in a field, ideally with a dog, or near a horse, whilst humming and frowning. This final phase goes on for several weeks, after which time the little idea has grown into something which can be recorded. Rejoice!
There’s something very old soul about your music, kinda Beatles like. What artists inspired you in your quest within music?
Well, the inspirations behind the album are cleverly disguised. I am reluctant to reveal the songs which I ripped off in order to create this work. That would be foolish. But since you asked so nicely, the answer is: Ryan Adams, Elliott Smith, Conor Oberst, Stephen Malkmus, and Tony Rudd from the BBC documentary series “Look Around You”.
How was the creating of you album like? Any stories of how your travels and experiences in these created a song?
I think the oldest song on the record is either Graveyard Shift or Silvester, which are from around 2008. Both of these were partly inspired by trips to Germany. Most of the parts you can hear on Silvester are actually from recording sessions back around that time. Living abroad for many years is a great experience, but it can also be disorientating. Many of these songs reflect this, I think. That answer was more serious than you were expecting, wasn’t it? I’ll put something silly at the end to undermine it. Maybe something about that horse. I’ll think about it.
The best place for songwriting?
Do you mean geographically? I think probably Slovenia, or Vienna. Maybe Spain. I don’t know. Let’s go with Vienna. It’s a musical place.
Would you do another trip again for your next album?
Yes, OK, that is very generous of you to offer. Will you be paying all my expenses, or just a small allowance to cover food?
Final thoughts and what does the future hold for Grado?
I’m excited about this trip now. Are you coming too? Where should we go? After the trip, I’ll continue working on the next record. It’s going to be a bit more ambitious than the first one, hopefully in a good way. We’ll see.
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