Grandchildren is a six-piece tour de force when performing live, brought together by the initial solo efforts of Aleks Martray. After cracking his electric guitar in half during the summer of 2007, he picked up an acoustic guitar that he found in his basement and infused its sounds with the sampled beats that he had been experimenting with. Thus, the foundation for what would become Grandchildren’s debut full length Everlasting (Green Owl) was laid.
In Everlasting’s first three tracks “Cold Warrior”, “Winterlude” and “Heartbreak”, you find the original essence of the album. Once they were three sections to one song, but now have fissioned to become the majority of the first half of the album. You’ll find thematic melodies intertwined in this trio. There are many contrasting compositions built up throughout the album – most of which are comprised of over 30 tracks of instrumentation creating dense multi-layered blankets of sound. Opening track and first song written for the album, “Cold Warrior” (a tribute to Martray’s military father), assaults you with a barrage of drum samples before the bouncing bass line kicks in and Aleks Martray’s soothing echoed vocals welcome you in. The sparse introductory guitar picking in “Winterlude” lulls you in a trance before tossing you to and fro by the shifting melodies of the instrumental. Yes, it certainly does feel like a long intro for the next track as the outtro dissolves into splattered samples leading into the apathy of love lost found in “Heartbreaker”. The first single released from Everlasting,“Saturn Returns”, often resembles the score to an interstellar Greek battle of the gods as armies march and attack to Martray’s galloping acoustic guitar lines. Other standouts include hypnotic tracks like “Toss & Turn” with its pulse pounding drumbeats and 8-bit bleeps and the seductively silky smooth “OK I’m Waiting”.
While the album is grounded in pop sensibilities and melodies, Everlasting takes plenty of risks moving Grandchildren closer to the realm of buzz-worthy underground art rockers, but I’m guessing that it’s in their DIY nature to begin with anyways. Trust me. They won’t remain underground for long. This is only their launching point. Sky’s the limit for the Danger Danger Gallery crew! You can purchase Everlasting by Grandchildren here. – Q.D. Tran