I like my Shakey Graves like I like my coffee — rough, rugged, a simple yet gritty slap to the face. At least, this is my favourite version of Shakey Graves. I still like his more bluesy anthems on And The War Came, and even a bit of his dabblings into dream rock with Can’t Wake Up. I completely skipped his last album, Movie of the Week, which came with its own film festival, but after checking out a few tunes for this review, I skipped it.
So it’s kind of always a new event when Shakey Graves, the Texan man who has his own day, releases an album, and it’s a nice surprise when he goes back to his roots. This new one, Fondness, Etc., may begin with a synth swell on “Don’t Change A Thing,” but then it quickly morphs back into his unforgettable indie Americana flair. “When The Love is New” sounds like it started as a demo during the “Roll the Bones” era, and if you like old Shakey, you’ll quickly fall in love with it.
A bit later, we get the dreamy “Away It Goes,” featuring the Texino two-piece from, you guessed it, Texas. Not sure if Shakey is on vocals or Cameron Neal, but the track is as lush as vibey indie Americana can be. “The Boilermaker” then appears, an outlaw country odyssey about loss and forgetfulness, and has some of Shakey’s classic vocal harmonies — one voice raspy and ragged, mixed down to perfection, and one leading the track. The guitar is also simple and acoustic, with a few flourishes, but it’s the sultry organ holding it down. “I Was Once An Ocean,” one of the more experimental Shakey Graves tracks, feels a bit out of place, more of an underwater cowboy instrumental, but it’s nice to hear Shakey constantly taking chances. Which is all you can really hope for, right?
