The press for The Grey Race’s new EP includes a quote from Jon Darling, singer, songwriter and guitarist: “I don’t really like the norm – I get a kick out of things that are a little messed up. Leaving the cracks and creases in, the imperfections, is attractive to me.â€
And the EP has that kind of sound. On the one hand, it’s pretty heavy and heady lyrically, and it’s sung in full earnest. But the music and crisp production belie the melancholy. They’re similar to Iron & Wine or The Cure in that way: You listen and you don’t realize how sad the song is because of the beats behind it.
For the almost-obligatory-these-days cover song, the band chose The Zombies, “Care of Cell 44.†It seems like lots of folks have chosen to do this tune in recent years, most notably Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, but the version here still manages to sound fresh.
