Mobilizeformat: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Carmen Rizzo, Grant-Lee Phillips
label: Zoë Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "See America" (4 / 5) (live) - 2. "Humankind" - 3. "Loves a Mystery" - 4. "Sadness Soot" (4 / 5) - 6. "Spring Released" - 7. "Lazily Drowning" - 8. "Like a Lover" (4 / 5) - 9. "Mobilize" - 10. "Beautiful Dreamers" - 11. "Sleepless Lake"
2nd studio album by Grant-Lee Phillips following one year after Ladies' Love Oracle is a more diverse bunch of tracks with use of more varied instrumentation compared to his more subtle and introvert acoustic debut. Although, it appears more diverse, and more up-tempo with the alt-country element, the songs are the result of only Grant-Lee's own writings and instrumental performance. At the point when the band Gran Lee Buffalo was reduced to a duo they found guest artists to fill in where former band associate Paul Kimble played a leading role, and when Phillips made his solo debut, it was likewise with the assistance of other musicians, however, on this he plays and programs it all to almost perfection. The result is still an album for the few, for people who seek and listen, but it's also a fine accomplishment that may be recognized at some point in its own right.
The album easily betters the debut but should not be compared with albums by Grant Lee Buffalo as this is not the type of indie rock the band stood for but instead it shows us what a gifted songwriter Phillips is. My only negative critique is that some of the tracks are too stereotypically The Beatles-and-Beach Boys'-harmonically-sounding.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
