Granfaloon Bus - Lucky Curtains

by Geraint Jones

published: 4 / 12 / 2003

Label: Glitterhouse Records
Format: CD

Stunning final album from the recently dissolved Granfaloon Bus that combines Americana with psychedelia-inflicted arrangements

Review

Not conceived as such at the time of recording, but after 13 years together, San Franciscan’s, Granfaloon Bus’ seventh album, ‘Lucky Curtains’ is in fact their last, the band having recently announced their amicable dissolution, just a few month’s after its release. Which is a pity. Although I’d been aware of their existence for some time I only picked up my first Granfaloon Bus album, a copy of their 1999 release, ‘Good Funeral Weather’, quite recently. ‘Lucky Curtains’ draws (sorry!) their tenure to a close on a high note though. Fronted by Felix Costanza, who is planning to continue as a solo artist, his oddly undulating vocals and often ambiguous lyrics form the core of Granfaloon Bus. Wrapped in woozy Americana meets psychedelia-inflected arrangements, some of Costanza’s lines can’t help but peek out perceptively in isolation, even when you’re not necessarily paying attention too closely – “We do our own stunts, Knowing where the falls come from” from ‘There’s A Sugar Museum’, one of the album’s standout cuts, being a prime example. ‘Lucky Curtains’ is one of those all too rare albums: one that you can listen to again and again often hearing something anew, musically or lyrically. It may not be immediate but it’s never less than intriguing. Granfaloon Bus are, or sadly were, a distinctive musical entity, the type of band, that while not to everyone’s taste - otherwise they would have undoubtedly survived for longer – who were rarely cherished as much as they deserved, but ironically are often lamented by more than ever noticed them in the first place. So why not give ‘Lucky Curtains’ a go. It might be too late for Granfaloon Bus, but whether or not Felix Costanza’s supposedly planned name for his solo project – Slighter – is an in-joke or not, I’m sure some grounds for optimism wouldn’t go amiss. He deserves the recognition and you get a good album out of it. Sounds fair to me.

Track Listing:-

1 Beggar Fatique
2 There's A Sugar Museum
3 Scum Of The Earth (Part 1: A Place To Crash)
4 Scum Of The Earth (Part 2: The Drone)
5 Silent Mayhem Dreams
6 House
7 Plucked
8 Lucky Curtains
9 Untitled