by Blackberry Evers

Created on: June 23, 2008

Grand Archives
The Grand Archives
Sub Pop Records
Grade: A-/A

Unquestionably, Seattle's Grand Archives got a leg up given that the group is headed by Mat Brooke of Band of Horses and Carissa' Wierd fame. And while Brooke's past benefited Grand Archives (formerly just Archives), the band wouldn't be where it is now if they didn't simply just rock. You may have just found your latest craving and pleasure that is anything but guilty.

Grand Archives take the BoH's basic indie rock frame and layer and molest it with terrific Beach Boys-esque melodies that are absurdly appealing. Helping Brooke perfect lovefest harmonies are drummer Curtis Hall, guitarist/keyboardist Ron Lewis, guitarist Thomas Wright, and bassist Jeff Montano; the band also employs horns and strings to fill out their sound. Even though GA first started up in the fall of 2006, a relentless desire to fine-tune every song led to recording at a number of different studios and taking the longer than normal two years for their debut to see the light of day.

Grand Archives' debut begins initially with disinteresting string plucking on "Torn Blue Foam Coach," before ripping into the melodic indie rock that will accompany you for the rest of the ride. "Miniature Birds" employs the more and more common whistling as bridges, while GA move toward shoegazing on "Swan Matches." However, these first three songs are only a warm-up for the best song on the record "Index Moon." "Index Moon" is a wistful, indie rock classic with big guitars and magical melodies. You can't go wrong by simply putting "Index Moon" on repeat for a few hours. It is hard to match "Index Moon" and followers "George Kaminski" and "Breezy No Breezy" stumble in this regard, though "A Setting Sun" sets you straight once again with a poppy skipping. "Sleepdriving" slows down the tempo and weaves spacey harmonies across the verse and chorus. "Louis Riel" features labelmate Sera Cahoone to waltz down a short poppy path, while Cahoone joins GA on the rocker "The Crime Window." Along with "Index Moon," "The Crime Window" has the most gusto as the whole outfit group sings and you imagine the last song of the night at a dueling piano bar. For reasons entirely non-obvious, Grand Archives decide to close their debut with the anti-climatic, organic plucking "Orange Juice." The only expectation is that they didn't want the perfect ending for their debut and thought "Orange Juice" was a good way to throw a wrench in the machine.

One is continually amazed how Sub Pop manages to find all these terrific indie rock bands and Grand Archives one of the special ones. Get The Grand Archives and make a special spot for it in your heart and mind.

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