William Harries Graham & The Painted Redstarts
Foreign Fields (Freedom Records)
Reviewed by Tim Stegall, Fri., Oct. 30, 2015
What William Harries Graham, Chronicle contributor and the Painted Redstarts' leader, shares in common with father Jon Dee Graham is being an Austin singer-songwriter-guitarist of protean talent. The sonic resemblance mostly ends there. Debut LP Foreign Fields demonstrates a Nineties dream-pop influence mixed with more urgent rock & roll across ethereal soundscapes including "Curtains Wide," "Say Goodbye," and the title track. It's as if sound poet Brion Gysin had diced up a My Bloody Valentine record and one by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, then almost randomly reassembled the pieces. An old pal of his father's, Alejandro Escovedo, drops in to kickstart a remake of True Believers' nugget "She's Got," and suddenly the album becomes a roadhouse raunch. An effects-laden shimmer returns immediately thereafter on "London," perfectly soundtracking a world-weariness beyond William Harries Graham's years.