Patience, Moonbeam by Great Grandpa

There was a moment in the spring of 2021 when Great Grandpa didn’t know if they would go on. They had just begun work on the follow-up to 2019’s Four of Arrows that fall when each member was called in different directions—to new countries, new jobs, new life stages. But as with any good relationship built on mutual love, trust, and a mountain of shared history, the quintet—who grew up in Seattle and have been making music together for a decade—were drawn back into one another’s orbits in 2023. They decided to scrap most of what they had previously recorded and start afresh, this time with the new perspective of their momentous years apart. The resulting album—the ambitious and deeply moving Patience, Moonbeam—is the sound of lifelong friends and collaborators growing up and growing together.

Whereas Four of Arrows mostly came together in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the studio with the help of an outside producer, Patience, Moonbeam emerged slowly through a generous demoing process, with band member Dylan Hanwright at the helm of production and mixing. With fewer constraints and more control, the band had the opportunity to experiment and take their time, leading to a collection that feels and sounds more fully, confidently, themselves. All of Great Grandpa’s signature elements are there— Pat Goodwin’s nontraditional song structures and penchant for hooky melodies, Al Menne’s soothing yet stirring lead vocals—but with a sophistication and expanded list of songwriters and sounds that mirror their years of personal growth.

Perhaps most notable is how seamlessly all five members contributed to the creation of the album, showcasing their individual voices while still managing to create something cohesive and whole. While Pat was the main songwriter on Four of Arrows and wrote much of the bedrock for Patience, Moonbeam, the writing and recording process for this album saw a looser, more inclusive atmosphere overall, built on what the band calls an “open door policy.” What could suffer from a kitchen-sink approach instead comes together brilliantly, a testament to the band’s musical and spiritual connection.

Swinging like a pendulum from heavy to tender, playful to weighty, these 11 songs seem to paint a sonic illustration of the pains and pleasures of being alive. On “Doom,” soft formant-shifted choir explodes into the full-on bash of cymbals; looped cough-like percussion stutters behind a smooth veneer of vocals on “Kiss the Dice.” “I think we all resonate with extremes and the contrast present in our daily lives and try to express that through our song’s journeys,” Pat says — a sentiment exemplified further on “Never Rest,” written about the anxieties of new parenthood. The groovy Portishead-inspired “Ephemera,” picks at the complexities of life and growing up while moving deftly through a sea of melodies and scene changes.

At the album’s emotional core is lead single “Kid,” which Pat and Carrie Goodwin wrote in the aftermath of the loss of their first pregnancy. “Things will happen when the timing is right,” Carrie reflects of that time, a sentiment that became the song’s glowing ember, and perhaps a mantra for the album itself: “All good things in time define their meaning.”

With Patience, Moonbeam, Great Grandpa has crafted a triumphant document of what happens when your collaborators become your chosen family. When you find that growing up and out in different directions only brings you closer together. “We’re all like individual swinging pendulums,” says Dylan, “and every now and then we come into sync for a few rotations.” Like Newton’s cradle—a device in which five metal spheres click-clack against each other until they reach stasis—the quintet has found their alignment in this collection of songs. It was worth the wait.

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