The longitudinal folk-rock of Living proof, opening the fifth album by Adam Granduciel and his musicians, sets the tone: the singer-songwriter’s romantic vision of proletarian America will be heartwarming. All these upheavals lived, endured, since leavingA Deeper Understanding (2017) pushed Granduciel to refocus his message and the folk-rock aesthetic of the group, now stripped of the psychedelic bursts of the first albums in favor of a more polished aesthetic (the epic pop-rock of Tom Petty and Springsteen of the years 1980 on Harmonia’s Dream, Wasted and the title song). Licked and refined: in terms of orchestration and mix, this record is a work of goldsmith, with the perfectly calibrated drums, the shiny guitars. It would be heard at full volume in the car with the windows down if it wasn’t already so cold. Details that matter: I Don’t Live Here Anymore grabs, envelops, gives heart to the belly.
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