Four Of Arrows
Great Grandpa / Four Of Arrows / 2019 / BSM265V
Great Grandpa is a five piece grunge pop band from Seattle, Washington that really made a statement with their second album release Four Of Arrows. There is some truly excellent songwriting here from dominate members Pat Goodwin and Alex Menne. Menne’s folksy, almost country-twang vocal vibes is what sets Great Grandpa apart from the others - it’s something that you will either love or hate upon first listen. It’s delicate and cunning as it seamlessly blends a marriage of narrative lyricism to the progressive constructs of electric and acoustic guitar, bass, banjo, strings, piano, drums, and programming. Abby Gunderson (Noah Gunderson’s sister) provided all of the gorgeous string arrangements to the record. When I discovered this album in the winter of 2019 through Spotify I was hooked and it’s about all I would play on repeat as I spent hours mining in Old School Runescape.
Four Of Arrows is an album that explores nostalgia, self awareness, personal aspirations, and coping that flows from beginning to end like a great book that’s hard to put down. Some personal favorites include Digger, English Garden, Mono no Aware, Bloom, and Rosalie. Digger is full of some amazing reverb as the track swaps from soft to loud on a whim - a prime example of the expression they are capable of. English Garden really lets Gunderson’s violin and cello shimmer as Alex and Pat’s vocals vibrate harmoniously. Mono no Aware has Menne asking “do you feel the same way that I do?” around the Japanese term representing “the pathos of things…a melancholic appreciation of the transiency of existence”, It’s a spacey, pop-like track full of great synth and electronics. Following track Bloom is definitely the most catchy. Alex’s opening line is too relatable and gives me some hope in this world - “I get anxious on the weekends, when I feel I’m wasting time. But then I think about Tom Petty and how he wrote his best songs when he was 39” (Full Moon Fever released in 1989 and went five times platinum by 2000…) The chorus then erupts with optimism -“Step into whatever you want to and let you spirit bloom” - a nod to follow your dreams. Me personally? I’m free fallin’. Four Of Arrow’s seventh track Rosalie centers around witnessing and dealing with the Alzhemier’s of their (Pat and Carrie Goodwin’s) grandmother. Upon the verse beginning the sounds of a tape being re-wound can be heard which is symbolic of regression and moving backwards. The track builds to a climax into the closing lines “The hardest part, the hardest part, just a relentless regress”. The feeling of being completely helpless in the situation but you just being there and being present is truly the most that you can do.
Great Grandpa is Alex Menne, Pat Goodwin, Carrie Goodwin, Dylan Hanwright, and Cam LaFlam. Four Of Arrows was produced by Mike Vernon Davis. Since the release of Four Of Arrows the band hasn’t dropped any new material, but as of this fall Alex released a solo record with the help of Christian Lee Hutson titled Freak Accident that I have on my list to check out.
