Starting out on the live circuit aged just 13, Grant K. Fennell has meticulously climbed his way up the musical ladder, fusing with psych, ska, garage and folk troupes along his way.
This isn’t because Fennell doesn’t want to shackle himself down to the restrictions of a singular genre – it is simply because he can’t. With tastes and influences as extensive as his (Flaming Lips, Nick Drake, Mastodon, Frank Zappa, Animal Collective, Van Morrison, Coheed and Cambria, Kate Bush, Queens of the Stone Age), Grant’s music is a sedimentary of sounds, with layers of prog, folk rock, hardcore, desert rock, country, even blaxploitation, forming the musical force that he is.
Alas, I expect if I were forced to label upon Fennell a genre, it would have to be ‘acoustic’, ‘singer songwriter’, ‘folk’. And true, he is all three of these things, but he is so very much more. The limitations these often throwaway words place on a musician are claustrophobic and unfair. Still, another pigeonhole I can confidently place Grant in is that of ‘poet’. Perhaps a presumptuous statement, yes, but truly, the way in which Fennell binds together words is astounding. Creating a mirage out of dark and twisted metaphors of life, love and death, merely reading his lyrics overwhelms you with emotion before you have even pressed play.
July will bring the release of Grant’s debut EP Cold Home & The Family Bones. Recorded at Loom Studios in Leeds (where he is currently based as a student), producer Grant Henderson was so taken aback by Fennell’s music, he offered to work on the EP at no cost.
At seven tracks long, the EP showcases Fennell’s distinct, intricate guitar work, visionary ideas and overwhelming vocal prowess – all of which permeate his 20 years. Currently in talks with a range of labels, plus a nationwide Christmas tour in the works, Grant looks like he is finally nearing the top rung of that ladder he first stepped foot on seven years back.
Check out three exclusive tracks from ‘Cold Home & The Family Bones’, below, and head to Grant K. Fennell’s Facebook page here.
