The Washington Post Reviews Grant-Lee Phillips' LITTLE MOON and says "This 'Moon' Shines Bright."
November 20, 2009, 12:00 am

via The Washington Post Friday, November 20, 2009

This 'Moon' shines bright

GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS
Little Moon

Most people don't remember, but back in the early '90s, Grant Lee Buffalo put in a bid to be the American Radiohead. The Los Angeles-based trio had what it took, too: the dense guitars, the brooding alt-rock ballads and the doting patronage of R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe. Sadly, it did not come to pass.

Lead singer Grant-Lee Phillips has never let it get him down, though. Over the past decade, he has found his footing as a solo artist, and on his latest effort, Little Moon, he's in a particularly upbeat mood. "I'm gonna wake up with a smile/Open the shades/Let in the light," he sings on shuffling opener, "Good Morning Happiness."

Little Moon's 12 stripped-down folk-rock songs are preoccupied with slowing down, settling in and embracing domestic bliss. "I got a little girl cutting tooth/My pretty wife is in the bed/Whether be making love or making peace/Don't want to live a life of dread," he sings on "It Ain't the Same Old Cold War Harry."

Phillips's voice, which can glide from a honey-sweet falsetto to a velvet David Bowie-esque croon, has always been a showstopper. Fifteen years ago, it could really slam those melancholy songs home. On Little Moon, Phillips sounds a bit older and wearier, but a lot happier.

-- Aaron Leitko