All Smiles
Ten Readings of a Warning
Label: Dangerbird Records
Release Date: April 24, 2007

Remember when you heard that Grandaddy was going away? If you were like us, you refused to accept Just Like the Fambly Cat would never have its tour and that the thousands of new bandwagon Modest Mouse fans would never have the pleasure of discovering and ruining one of our favorite bands.

But little did we know the members of Grandaddy wouldn’t just hang up their guitar picks and bask in their Clear Channel-hating past, and it seems former acoustic guitarist Jim Fairchild has an early lead on Jason Lytle when it comes to solo albums (yes, know we Fambly Cat was all Lytle, but it doesn’t count).

For his debut solo album under the name All Smiles, Fairchild builds on his experience playing with Earlimart and Great Northern and brought in a butt-load of guest drummers: Janet Weiss (Sleater Kinney, Quasi), Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse, Black Heart Procession), Danny Seim (Menomena) and Solon Bixler (Great Northern).

Atmospheric acoustic guitar strumming set to high-strung vocal pop, Ten Readings of a Warning is underwhelming at first but will grow on you as the album trends into harder territory with the piano-led “The Velvetest Balloon” and our favorite track, the burning “Moth in a Cloud of Smoke” with (what?) electric guitars.

Grandaddy may have hit a dead end, but it was really a fork in the road for Lytle and Fairchild. We can’t wait to travel both paths and see if they cross again.

 All Smiles : “Moth in a Cloud of Smoke” (mp3)