Album Reviews

Grant-Lee Phillips

Virginia Creeper

2004-02-10

Rather than attempt to top what will be a career defining effort, Grant Lee has decided to pull up stakes and head South. His previous release, 2002’s solo debut Mobilize, was an industrial/alt-dance/pop masterpiece that still resonates with an unrivaled sense of assurance and liberation.

This time around, the songs are more metaphor-laden character studies than self-revelatory. The music, too, is a striking departure, turning in a folk-based direction - “Cosmic Americana” as Gram Parsons once called it. Check out Grant’s version of Gram’s “Hickory Wind” which rounds out the album.

Though Creeper won’t outdo Mobilize, it proves that Grant's songs can stand up to the genre-leap test.

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