All Is Grace
Gang Green, 2019
8/10
The frontman for the long running Chicago outfit Green, on Jeff Lescher’s first solo album the songwriter plays just about every instrument, though Mark Durante takes up pedal steel on occasion, while Arthur Kubin holds down drums on one track.
Lescher starts the listen warm with the guitar fueled “Can’t Do It Without You”, which brings some crunch and glam rock influences, and “Maybe Someday” follows with a calmer spirit as hazy folk-ideas enter the playful formula.
With 20 tracks included, Lescher keeps us interested with plenty of variety, including the soulful “You Make Life Sweet”, as well as the retro-pop sounds of “She’s A Good Woman”. “I’ll Never Love Again”, one of the album’s best, then recruits a hazy spirit amid warbly singing that’s charming in quirky ways.
Back half highlights include the dreamy “Without You”, and the meticulous, acoustic instrumental “Air On A String”. Closer to the end, the cautious “I Might Shine Again” brings a busy and eclectic landscape, and “Yellow Sky” offers a raw, sonic quality that brings to mind ‘80s punks like Husker Du. “I Just Can’t Remember Your Face (Reprise)” ends the listen in calmer territory with a piano guiding the primitive recording.
Often sounding like a stripped back version of Green, Lescher gets intimate, adventurous and often gritty on this highly diverse record that is sure to appease fans of Green, while also introducing plenty of ears to one of the most underrated songwriters of this generation.
Travels well with: The Long Ryders- Psychedelic Country Soul; The Kinks- Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire