Graves - Love, Love, Love

  by John Clarkson

published: 7 / 4 / 2003

---

Review

The Graves is the moniker of Greg Olin, a Portland, Oregon-based indie-folk singer-songwriter, who sometimes records music and plays music as an unaccompanied solo act, and sometimes with an ever revolving cast of friends. The titles of several of the tracks on 'Love, Love, Love', the Graves' debut release, are suggestive of an artist who doesn't take himself seriously, and, like Jonathan Richman, many of Olin's songs are indeed imbued with a quirky charm and whimsical wit. 'I am So Tired' has Olin and his new lover abstaining from sex because they have exhausted themselves by staying up too late talking, while 'Modern Love is a Killer', which Olin sings through a voice distorter, has him poking fun at himself over how complex he finds contemporary relationships and rules of dating. Olin has taken fifteen of his tender folk songs on 'Love, Love Love' , and then beefed them up and enhanced them with the aid of impressive studio wizardry, and a wide range of instrumentation. Glockenspiels and shakers, a piano, keyboards, horns and trumpets and trombones all help to create a languid, meandering, and inventive record which is reminiscent, as well as Jonathan Richman, of Prefab Sprout during the golden era of their 'Swoon' and 'Steve McQueen' albums.The softly rambling 'Calm Me Down' has a sophoric feel with its use of tingling piano and quietly rumbling brass. 'O Connor Pass' briefly and gently rattles and flurries into psychedelia, and 'Suburban Girls' has a waltzing carousel sound. While 'Love, Love, Love' is lighter in tone than many of the other albums than make up its record company FILM Guerrero's often dark roster, it is another strong offering from an always fine label. With its soft tones, and relaxed, occasionally hazy sound, it is the perfect summery record for the hottest, laziest day.

Track Listing:-

1 The (209)
2 Modera Love Is A Killer
3 I Am So Tired
4 Because Im Supposed To
5 Curse A Thing
6 Evil Is You
7 Calm Me Down
8 Kylodica
9 O'connor Pass
10 Suburban Girls
11 Show Girls Love
12 How To Fake An Indian Summer
13 Dark Hair Is Cool Too
14 All
15 The (209) Again