Grandpa Was A Lion
Archaic EP
GWAL

Just a few moonths after The Whalestoe Tapes album comes Archaic EP (well, it was released at the end of April - there's even another EP out now! Check American Splendor EP in our next issue, due mid July). Justin D'Onofrio has had a busy year release-wise so far. His stuff is available digitally via bandcamp. Check out.

Grandpa Was A Lion (GWAL), or D'Onofrio, tag his music "chillwave dreampop experimental folk glo-fi lo-fi shoegaze Brooklyn". The Connecticut born (still living there?) D'Onofrio is probably sitting in his Brooklyn loft (is that true?) writing songs through the night. Anyway, he creates quiet, dreamy folk-pop. "In a Dream" sounds like its in the middle of a dream, with a strong wish not to leave this fictious dream. Neat guitar. "Rock & Roll" is in fact starting a bit rock'n'rollish, with a tough, noisy guitar. Of course this isn't rock and roll like Led Zeppelin. If so this is some different stairway upwards.

The last two tracks are somewhat darker, more serious it seems, by checking the song titles: "Funeral March For A Black King Because Nobody Loves A Genius Child" and "War". Actually, the funeral march isn't as gloomy as I expected. Neither is "War". The latter is maybe my fave track on this EP. GWAL is of course brittle, brittle music, on the melancholy side. I find GWAL to be very uplifting and spiritually elevating. It's still gloomy, though, but it's not sheer darkness.

Copyright © 2011 Håvard Oppøyen