Greta Van Fleet – Starcatcher
7/10
This album is 20 minutes or so shorter than the previous. The longest song is shorten than 6 minutes. The music is more mellow and more flamboyant, spaced out and slower in tempo.
These are my first reflections when spinning the new Greta Van Fleet album.
Are those reflections bad? No, this as a Greta Van Fleet album. There is no misconception here. The seventies influences; read mainly Led Zeppekin, but throw in some LSD laced Jefferson Airplane for good meassure, the ear catching melodies in songs like ”Waited All Your Life” and ”The Archer” for example.
As said the tempo feels like it has been taken down a notch or two. The only few songs I feel really have some go in it is previously mentioned ”The Archer” and ”The Falling Sky”. Apart from that the tempo is low to sleepy. Or the feeling around the songs do. I can not accuse “Runaway Blues” to have a low tempo in it, but it has a lower feel to it.
The album is a bit of a showcase for the excellent vocalist Josh Kiszka. Both good and bad. I feel that there is a little bit to much wailing and vocalist masturbation of vocalchords. I would have liked a bit more balance here. Most of us know that he is an excellent singer and enjoy this without all the extras.
But I guess this is no stranger than when you listen to bands with a prominent guitarplayer/drummer and they get more room to shine instead of focusing on the whole picture of the songs.
The hiring of Dave Cobb to produce this album gives it a more fluent and alive feeling as it should when he is behind the desk. Organic might be the selling word here. I think that this can be a masterstroke for future recordings for the group, for them to move more towards being even more organic and unpolished.
Greta Van Fleet does not try to hide their influences. And if they do, they are not good at it. I find that I like new bands doing old, classic stuff. And this album is no exception. It sounds Led Zeppelin a lot, but apart from the rugged, classic rock they hav incorperated a bit more psychadelic elements in their music. That I do like.
Band: Greta Van Fleet
Title: Starcatcher
Label: Lava/Republic/Universal
Date of release: 2023-07-21
Rate: 7/10
Stand Out Track: The Archer
Country of Origin: USA
Playing Time: 42:48
