Dept. Of Disappearance (Deluxe Edition)

With Grandaddy and on his own, Jason Lytle turns out colorful pop songs, rich with ideas and grand atmospheres no matter what the recording budget. Acoustic guitars and walls of synths turn elegant little songs into enormous widescreen passion plays. It's part Phil Spector, part Abbey Road, part ELO coming together from an unassuming dude who never looks up from the harmonies to see if anyone else is listening. The songs contain their own inner logic and if you can't quite penetrate the sound to hear the lyrics or to understand the ones that make it past the wall, it's no matter. The songs are meant to work as one, as aural beauty, with their peculiar gorgeousness making things right. The title track, "Matterhorn" and "Young Saints" begin the onslaught that is thrown into relief by the relatively stripped-down folk of "Hangtown." Arguably best is the aggressively rocking "Your Final Setting Sun" where Lytle stares down a man in the throes of death. The Deluxe Edition includes four bonus tracks, including an acoustic version of "Your Final Setting Sun."