Willard Grant Conspiracy - Pilgrim Road (Album)
The 10th release (by my count) of the ever-mutating collective Willard Grant Conspiracy is the new long-player Pilgrim Road. This is a superb alt-country release; few bands I have heard have achieved so much with so little instrumentation and so much subtlety. Most tracks are based around a plucked acoustic guitar, piano, muted trumpet, and cello, but many instruments appear, including some glorious harp in Painter Blue. A drum kit doesn’t even get a look in until track 6, Miracle on 8th St. Songs meander with seemingly disconnected vocals and backing music, however they are far from.
The gruff vocals of front man Robert Fisher sit perfectly atop the mournful soundtrack, perfectly and subtly intertwined. A perfect example is Phobe. At first the song appears plain and moribund. However, with repeated listens the beauty of it appears. A Spanish guitar plucks a beautiful motif in the background, a quiet chorus of voices harmonise behind Fisher. It is a beautiful, understated piece. Likewise, other tracks will often wander seemingly aimlessly, but with a hypnotic quality, and then swell gloriously into choral sections that are almost hymnal.
This is an album to share with a big bottle of red and a good friend. A truly stunning, mature, and complex release that slowly reveals itself over time. Highly recommended.
