Grantura - In Dreams And Other Stories

Jul 28 2008 By Paul Cole

(Ruffa Lane)

THERE’S no future in nostalgia, Matthew Owens sings during album opener Waves, a shimmering song that immediately

disproves the point with its echoes of folk legends Magna Carta.

In fact, almost every song on the Brit band’s highly-anticipated debut album is rooted in the past. But don’t get the idea that it’s past any sell-by date because this s a timeless tunesmith’s treasure.

The blend of Americana and folk psychedelia could just as easily reside on the West Coast as West London, with In Dreams recalling CSNY and Forever September a sweetheart of Roger McGuinn’s rodeo.

Elsewhere, Holly is a lazily laidback easy chair delight musically related to Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, and Lazarus rises on a Beatley backbeat resurrected from the swinging 60s.

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils haunt Sunshine, and House Of Cards bizarrely blends Beach Boy harmony hooks with a Cossack-dancing Russian folk beat. Brian Wilsonski perhaps.

This is a gorgeous set of the songs that will appeal to anyone who ever bought a Teenage Fan Club or Cosmic Rough Riders album.