Customer Reviews

Miracles & Metaphors

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gram Rabbit is one of my favorite bands. I like a lot of music, (for I listen to almost everything released) my favorites run the gamut; from Aerosmith and Alice In Chains to Concrete Blonde, The Golden Palominos, Godsmack, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden to Porcupine Tree, with almost everything in between. This CD was not as good as their second studio disc, (on my top 50 CD/LPs of 'personal' taste) but I have listened to this CD hundreds of times since purchased and will continue till the disc is worn out...

I fell in love with Gram Rabbit when I first heard "New Energy" (from their 'Music To Start a Cult To' debut) on an interweb radio station. When I got the album, I fell in love with them even more. Their combination of quirky pop and blissful, desert-scrub folk was fun, beautiful, very creative stuff.

I was a little let down with their follow-up album, 'Cultivation,' because except for "Angel Song" (one of my favorites from them), not only were there virtually NO folk-ish songs, there were no other songs featuring the amazing pairing of Jesika Von Rabbit with the charming vocal talents of their guitarist Todd Rutherford. It was a fun enough album, but there were only so many post-"Cowboy Up" songs I could enjoy at once.

So, by the time 'RadioAngel and the Robot Beat' came out, I had been barely paying attention to them. It took me a good year or two before I finally got it just after Christmas of 2010 - but boy howdy was I glad I did. It was more of the same kind of funky, sometimes spacey pop of the previous albums (still with a minimal of folk touches, but I had grown used to that).

(I also highly recommend downloading their three online-only releases, the EPs 'Rare Bits' and 'Desert Sound EP,' as well as the single "Stars" - which is free on their website.)

By now you might be wondering when I'm going to review THIS album. That time is now.

With 'Miracles and Metaphors,' I am happy to say that the pop-folk combination of 'Music' has RETURNED - and then some. In fact, there is such a minimum of the pop sound to this album that they're actually much more of a rock band at this point. Some heavier guitars even creep in at times (on the opener "Time of Our Lives" especially). Odd elements occasionally pop up (the sampled horn sections on "Destinies Align"), and more delicate touches such as piano, acoustic guitar, and a LOT of singing from Todd are present. If their past two albums were strays off a path, then this is the successful return home. I don't like declaring favorites, especially so soon after experiencing an art for the first time, but having listened to this album once, I must admit...this MIGHT creep up that high for me as far as "favorite Gram Rabbit" album in time.

And if you've not heard the magical "desert pop" of Gram Rabbit yet, then yes, this is a perfect place to start.

This is a very good record! The musicianship and vocals are fantastic. Every song is different from the one before and shows what a talented group of people make Gram Rabbit a group to watch!!

Hard to believe that there is only one other review of this album here. I bought this recently and have been listening to it nonstop since. Gram Rabbit's first album, Music to Start a Cult to, is in my top 5 albums of all time. The albums that followed it weren't as good, in my opinion, and I think they were just experimenting with their sound, which I respect immensely. I had heard a few tracks from Miracles and Metaphors on their myspace page and liked what I heard so purchased the entire album. It's definitely their best since Music to Start a Cult to, and just keeps getting better and better every time I listen to it. Every song is completely different, and so new and original and fresh, but I also get a weird feeling like I knew all of the songs almost immediately, if that makes any sense. It's like when you meet someone and feel like you've known them for years...I kind of got that with this album, even though I've never heard anything like this music from any other artist ever. Gram Rabbit's music is about 99% better than anything you will hear on any radio station...ever. The mainstream music being shoved down people's throats is absolute crap compared to musical geniuses like Gram Rabbit.

4.5 0ut of 10 "music to start a cult ..." is much much better listen to jack @ 91.3 fm lamar university radio beaumont tx