I came to this backwards.
My first encounter with Grandfather Birds was secondhand, by way of side project Nately’s Whore’s Kid Sister, whose astounding EP Ribs is somehow as angelic and soaring as it is weighed down by filth and sludge. Listening to Things Beneath The Water and Spithope, which Grandfather Birds have very kindly put up for free download, that first facet of the Nately’s sound starts to make a lot more sense.
While Spithope does a fine job of swelling from a condensed history of British indie rock to a cathedral-sized coda, it’s Things Beneath The Water that’s the real joy here, a crystalline six-string ping-pong that flickers its way into one of the most addictive, expansive, wide-eyed hooks I’ve heard this year. Grandfather Birds have kindly put the two tracks up for free download on bandcamp, so y’know, go there.