Almanzo – The Greener Grass
Almanzo Ward is a singer-songwriter from London, UK. His debut, The Geener Grass, is incredibly lacklustre compared to the impressive discography of Almanzo, though it does set the mood for what’s to come. Nonetheless, where Almanzo lacks in substance, he certainly makes up for in style.
Yellow Wall Paint is a gorgeous instrumental opener that pans its instrumentation amidst a respectable use of space. The rest of the album is sadly hugely underwhelming. The Greener Grass lacks personality for a title track. Lavender and Lemons is very conventional with a boring melodic progression. Tracing a Constellation on Your Face has good atmosphere, but a very stagnant and safe tempo. And Striped Carnations Lined the Grass sounds lazy, and over relies on the aesthetic to carry the benign composition. Much of the album is filler, or at least undeveloped experiments.
The lack of Almanzo’s soft, subdue vocal presence is clearly a miss with a Greener Grass; a shame, since it boasts some of the most authentic and warm vibes of his discography. Thankfully, Almanzo became more confident with his voice from the next album onwards. While the atmospheres are warm and emotional, they are relatively straight forward and devoid of progression. For that, it’s difficult to recommend Almanzo’s debut.
Bad
Listen to it here:
Almanzo – The Greener Grass
