Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

Greenland is Melting - Our Hearts are Gold, Our Grass is Blue

Greenland is Melting had been on my radar for a little while now. They signed to Paper + Plastick- perhaps the label with the most solid and awesome line-up currently- so that’s a good sign, and the album title caught my eye, with the obvious reference to bluegrass music. Now, I love me some bluegrass. Béla Fleck’s Tales From the Acoustic Planet, vol.2: The Bluegrass Sessions is the kind of album I can put on anytime, anywhere and be extremely happy with my choice. And from the song samples I heard, they sounded pretty great. Thankfully, despite my debilitating laziness, I was able to procure the CD through a contest from the excellent Rocket Fuel podcast.

The record feels like a logical extension of the folk-punk movement, particularly when thinking of bands like The Wild and Andrew Jackson Jihad, only pushed further to folk and almost completely away from punk. To an extent, I find it odd that it would be on the same label that’s released material from A Wilhelm Scream, but hey, diversity is good.

The songs here feature pretty standard bluegrass instrumentation. There’s some fiddle, banjo, minimal drum, that sort of thing. The gang vocals are awesome. The harmonizing at the opening of “No More Sorry Songs” is really great, and there’s a great energy level in the verses. Really great uptempo song.

Speaking of the vocals, there are two singers here, as far as I can tell, and one of them often sounds a whole lot like Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. Check out “The Kitchen Song” or “Hotel Floors” to really see what I mean. Later day Rivers, to be sure- more like a country-fied version of Red Album or Make Believe Weezer- but yeah, it’s there, and I can’t help but hear it. Makes me think that Rivers should crank out a bluegrass side project. Couldn’t be worse than his band’s last few albums.

If you like bluegrass, and want to hear a young band whose energy is infectious playing their take on the genre, you need to get this record.  This isn’t your typical offering from Paper + Plastick, but like everything else they’ve released, it’s a quality record, and is well worth your time. As summer winds down and fall approaches, this is a great record to change seasons with. Get into it.

Tags: greenland is melting