Experimental rock group Grails push upward and outward on their new album, Miracle Music, a hazy swirl of ambient synths, improvisational drumming, and acoustic and electric guitars. Grails also bursts through classical compositions across the album to find more space in the air around themselves. Whether it’s the moving trumpet runs on “Strange Paradise” or the mounting crescendos of opening track “Silver Bells,” Grails tread in an atmosphere that never feels fully grounded or totally psychedelic, opting to instead bridge that gap on Miracle Music.
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Ezra Furman: Goodbye Small Head [Bella Union]
Ezra Furman opens her new album, Goodbye Small Head, with a trippy vocal loop and the rough pulls of a bow across a cello. “It can happen whenever/I don’t hold the lever,” she sings on “Grand Mal,” setting up the project’s arc: Though we can’t know when life’s sudden winds will blow us over, we can try our best to mentally prepare for the force. Furman summons the energy to make Goodbye Small Head a rallying cry for those learning how to ground themselves, be it with the shrieks and demands of the indie-rock explosion “Jump Out” or the blues riff at the heart of “Power of the Moon.” In relinquishing control, the follow-up to 2022’s All of Us Flames finds stability, however fleeting.
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