Griffin House – The Learner

post brought to you by: dyson

There are so many things to love about music. Sometimes you hear an album and just sink into a happy state of pure enjoyment. The album passes by track after track and you don’t even realize how much your mood has changed since you put it on.

This is what happened when I first put on the album “The Learner” from Griffin House. I hadn’t heard of him before listening to this record but that makes me all the more excited. Griffin house has released several albums over the past decade so now I have some more great listening to do.

And if his past albums are anything like “The Learner”, I’ll be even more impressed by him.

It’s hard to hear a new artist and not listen for influences or try to compare them to existing artists you are familiar with. While Griffin House has a sound unique to himself, he also calls on many great artists to culminate into great, authentic music.

“The Learner” leads me to a little bit of Mark Knopfler, Wilco, and Josh Ritter (among many others). Artists sometimes hate hearing the comparisons but unfortunately it’s way easier than classifying them into some made up mix mash of a genre.

The production on the record is fantastic. Warm sounds overall, cymbals that melt through the speakers rather than ripping your ears off, and vocals that are powerful and warm all at the same time.

But the songwriting is really where he shines. Griffin House has a great sense of composition and song structure. The album flows by in one cohesive piece with bits of lyrics jumping out at you that are incredibly easy to relate to.

This album is one to sit back and enjoy from start to finish. Allison Krauss provides some gorgeous harmonies on the second track “River City Lights”. Griffin House has a national full band tour planned in support of the record. Look out for dates in your area.

Here’s his latest song written and recorded post “The Learner”.

Griffin House – She Likes Girls

Photo credit: Rusty Ralston