Indie electro rockers Grandchildren release album, hit the road
“As grand and celebratory as it is earnest and solemn” – Consequence of Sound
“The spirited don’t-define-me sound of Grandchildren is drifting and meditative in its cinematic splendor and filled with sudden, unexpected right turns that surprise and delight.” – Spinner
“[Grandchildren’s] glowing indie-electro-rock will warm your rain-chilled soul and soften your summer heat-hardened heart” – WXPN
Ernest Jenning Record Co. is excited to announce the release of Grandchildren’s second full-length album Golden Age. The album is currently streaming in full via AllMusic. In support of the new record, Grandchildren is touring throughout the month of June.
Recently, Grandchildren released the video for “Sunrise,” which was directed by Michael James Murray from Out of Town Films. Consequence of Sound describes the video as “a young girl [who] explores some darkened woods inhabited by taxidermied animals. Eventually, she comes across some hooded figures and walks through what can only be described as pre-pubescent disco. With reality and fantasy too blended to distinguish, it’s the perfect visuals for this otherworldly ballad.”
Produced by Chris Powell from Man Man and Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog), Golden Age is the band’s sophomore release. The band, who have previously toured with Man Man, Seabear and O’Death, will be touring this spring, including a record release show in May in Brooklyn.
Grandchildren began in 2008 as the solo recording project of Aleks Martray, forging intricately layered arrangements with only an acoustic guitar, a mic and a loop pedal. Since then, it has evolved into a 6 piece pop-orchestra known for its high energy live performances featuring dueling drums, circuit bending electronics and an instrument swapping horn section. On stage, the tiny 5’3″ frontman remains stoic, at the eye of the storm, encircled by a whirlwind of animated instrumentalists, belting out melodies in a voice that defies his own stature. Martray attributes Grandchildren’s eclectic sound to his nomadic upbringing in a military family across Europe and the US and his journeys throughout Latin America as a young adult:
“I think when you live and travel all over the world from such a young age your mind constructs a sort of map that is an amalgamation of all of these different worlds. I see the music as a soundtrack for this puzzle-like landscape that otherwise would exist only in my head.”
As their 2010 debut album Everlasting aimed to piece together the feel of various places, their new record attempts to collage together various points in time. Golden Age reads like a scrapbook in homage to that elusive era that serves as a reference point for how we’d like to remember “the way things used to be”, how they “ought to be”, but probably never really were. The recordings stem from this concept musically, pulling from a vast array of influences, and thematically, swirling around it from all angles with songs of hope and disillusionment, optimism and doubt, nostalgia and anticipation, caution and regret. The cinematically layered musical arrangements set the stage for unique vocal stylings that take on a range of characters in what Martray describes as something akin to method acting. “The lyrics are simple because it’s all subtext to the music. They’re more like the voice of a character and the music is the setting, and so the story unfolds between them.” As these scenes play out, what unfolds is a narrative about how we project our fears, hopes, desires on everything and everyone around us, forcing our simplistic ideals on a complex world.
