By HANNAH DZIEZANOWSKI

COLUMNIST

Fall is the season of the folk musician, and since today’s OC Fall Fest is a celebration of all things autumnal, this week’s featured artist is folkie extraordinaire, Shakey Graves. By releasing his latest album, And the War Came, earlier this month, he greatly intensified the fall folk craze and is growing all the more popular for his exceptional timing.

I first heard Shakey Graves exactly a year ago (‘twas the season, of course), and then was essentially assailed by his music over the summer when several of my friends went through severe obsessive phases ignited by the impossibly catchy single he released earlier this year (featured on this album), “Dearly Departed.” When I found out only a couple of weeks ago that he would be releasing a new album, I felt it was time that I finally get more acquainted with this artist on the rise.

Shakey Graves, one-man band by the name of Alejandro Rose-Garcia, stands out from the folky singer-songwriter crowd with his vintage guitar, homemade suitcase bass drum, and his surprisingly fluctuant style. I have listened to the ten tracks of And the War Came a handful of times now, and I still find it impossible to confine Shakey Graves to a single musical genre. First of all, this album in particular radiates an “old timey” vibe with its title, cover art (a black and white photograph of gossiping war nurses), and the recurring sound of a reeling cassette tape playing hushed, distorted voices as if certain tracks were recorded over something else. The last track entirely embodies this “old” sound by sounding fairly distant and scratchy – the higher pitches sung by the second vocalist (Esmé Patterson, three times featured on the album) are poorly picked up and sound intentionally raspy to imitate the quality of an old recording. This stylistic choice gives the album a comforting, nostalgic quality.

The songs themselves all differ in style; the album starts off strong with rhythmic strumming and picking patterns (the picking often overlays the strumming simultaneously) in “Only Son,” and then this seamlessly transitions into the high-energy, almost-pop hit, “Dearly Departed.” However, the album immediately deviates from the light, folky style with the heavy sound of a distorted electric guitar and booming percussion, which is a slightly jarring surprise on the first listen. Following this, the next song takes the energy and intensity of the folk rock track and merges it with country-style acoustic plucking and strumming and complements it with a straining southern voice. From there, the rest of the album both isolates and combines the different stylistic elements of the previous songs to create a somewhat jerky listening experience. However, I applaud him for his efforts to appeal to different tastes and to challenge the rather limiting folky singer-songwriter label.

As one who can be pretty critical of today’s folk solo artists and duos who seem to consistently imitate one another, I find Shakey Graves to be a standout. His album might lack cohesion, but it is a fun and heartening listen, and will likely be the perfect addition to your fall music collection.