When Failures' Union lost their original drummer after the release of their first EP, Tony Flaminio rightly thought his band was done for. In response, he wrote a bunch of songs for a solo follow up. Fortunately, Failures' Union didn't call it quits and many of his solo songs were reworked into full-band ventures. Luckily, Flaminio has decided to release the six-year-old original songs from those sessions in our latest album of the week, Grim Repair.
Grim Repair was recorded in the back room of a girlfriend's house using pirated software and random mics and instruments. He also shared the house with a dog and seven cats (they make a cameo in "Truck Song"). There's something magical about a musician working by himself in an environment like this - think Ben Gibbard's (Death Cab for Cutie) early lo-fi side project All-Time Quarterback or Andy Hull's (Manchester Orchestra) dark-folk side project, Right Away, Great Captain!. Flaminio is no exception. Grim Repair has that DIY, lo-fi urgency that makes albums like these so great. It's endearing and relatable.
The album kicks off with "Independence Blues." I'm a sucker for vintage-y synth tones, and that's exactly how this song begins - it was a good way to hook me into the entire album, actually. The faux-electric piano kicks into some swung acoustic guitar chords, and immediately, the hallmarks of this album are introduced. It's a little bit alt-country and a little Bright Eyes-esque, but it's mostly just a dude with his guitar and some random instruments. And let me just say that Flaminio's near baritone delivery is wonderful - it's soulful and just unique enough to stand out from the more generic singer-songwriter crowd.
Immediately, I noticed many of these songs barely crack the two-minute mark, and that's one of the things I love about Grim Repair. Most of the songs showcase one or two interesting riffs, melodies, or ideas, and then they are gone. Take the fast-paced "Bike Theif" (1:43) or "Truck Song" which fades into ambience and animal noises after only 40 seconds. Both are beautiful songs that are just a bit stripped down. Flaminio did me a favor by stripping his songs down to the most important parts... I was able to enjoy them for what they were right off the bat.
A few of these songs sound like they could be on a Gaslight Anthem album, but that wouldn't really be giving Flaminio credit where credit is due. Sure, songs like "Bad Luck Song," "Traction," and "You've Been Replaced" have that Americana, blue collar vibe to them, but they also have this sense of longing and deeply personal lyrics that you can't just phone in. Same goes for "Heavy Song," where Flaminio sings, "Through thin ice, we'll drown tonight." Call it Americana, compare it to Springsteen, whatever. It doesn't matter - Flaminio's version is way more heartfelt and it's all very Buffalo-esque.
"Animal/Mother," clocking in at nearly nine minutes frightened me at first, until I realized over half the song was cryptic radio static. I usually don't have the patience to listen to songs this long (admittedly, a weakness of mine), but it ended up being one of my favorite songs on Grim Repair. I was originally under the impression that the seven cats Flaminio shared his house with were an inspiration, or at least had a positive affect on the outcome of this album, but Flaminio sings, "They are not so innocent, rob you from any normal life. Blur the lines between the rules of animal mother and wife." To me, once Flaminio kicked into the discordant guitar solo towards the end of the instrumentation, it sounds like he had just given up. All in all, the song is gentle and wistful, and it stuck with me.
Flaminio hits his alt-country stride in the album finisher, "Lucky 13 Candle." The song follows a straightforward bluesy guitar riff that starts off as just acoustic, but Flaminio adds whistles, fuzzy guitars, and organs throughout the rest of the song, culminating at about 2:55. The song fades out with a simple organ/acoustic/fuzz guitar jam, and just like that, Grim Repair is done.
Super cool, thoughtful review!
Just a heads up you can download the whole thing for free over at If You Make It!