Interior States

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Nathan Sassover is a composer, pianist and synthesist. With a background that includes classical music, jazz training at the Berklee College of Music and scoring for film and television, he is focused on original compositions,conjoining both formal structure and improvisational free form work.

Album Description
'Interior States', a three (3)CD solo piano collection reflects InhabitMusic's progressive outlook and is motivated by an ever enlarging view that boundaries of expression are elastic... musical genres and identities are morphable and unbounded.

Tracks:

Mona Lisa
Walking Memory
Lily-A-Passion
Dirty Secret
Always Friends
Calamity Jane
Josephine Of The Swamps
Far End Of The Night
Susanna Little
Wish I Knew
Hickory Wind

Amazon.com

With his third solo release since dissolving Grant Lee Buffalo, one of roots rock's great also-rans, Phillips relishes the relative advantages of the singer-songwriter style. He sketches characters with nuance, tosses off epigrammatic love songs, dives into painterly rural reveries, traces an obscure Southern myth while banging on a banjo, and offers bittersweet praise to friendship. His voice and melodic knack are all the continuity he needs. That voice, a grainy croon distilled from blue-eyed soul and California country cool, remains a prime attraction. If the tasteful, lissome country-folk backing of steel guitar, fiddle, piano, drums, and harmony vocals from Cindy Wasserman is a tad shy of adventurous, the sound suits the ripe, romantic, and dreamy mood of Phillips's songs. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews:

You can't go wrong here!.......2006-07-03

After listening to some jazz, I put this one in the player, and it instantly impressed me. Grant's voice is smooth and assured, and his lyrics have their own hard-won poetic licence. Sure, some older fans have lamented the lack of change they seem to expect from him, but I have to heartily disagree: The mix of instruments with his voice is so relaxing you'll save on the hot water bill. It's a hot tub soothing mixture to the ears. Let it in, and enjoy!

sugar rush.......2006-03-19

I heard "see america" and "mobilize" by grant-lee a few months ago, and I was hooked. Without doing any research I immediately went out and bought the only cd the cd store had, Virginia creeper. Horrors! Dear God, this is the most sickeningly sweet, sentimental cd I've ever heard. It's almost as bad as all those commercial n'sync or country songs aimed at your tender heartstrings -- their one and only purpose. Loved by grandmothers everywhere. However, if you are an adult who doesn't appreciate being manipulated in such a fashion, please avoid this repulsive album! The rest of his stuff might be great, but I'll never know because I've been burned once and I won't make the mistake of wasting my money on his music again. Yeah, he's got a great voice, and it isn't the style of music I object to, it's the cheesy lyrics! It makes me want to vomit.

(I put this under the kid's review because everytime I review they put my real name up for anyone to see. Yeah, anyone heard of online safety? Not amazon, apparently.)

Relief from Mainstream Music.......2005-09-02

I had never heard of Grant-Lee Phillips until a few days ago. Now I'm wondering why he isn't more popular. This guy can sing. If you, like me, are tired of mainstream musicians who have little talent but tons of fame, give this CD a try. It's refreshing to find a true musician who hasn't been swept away by media-hype.

Grant Lee Phillips's Latest Beauty (4.5 stars).......2004-07-22

That Grant Lee Phillips' solo output has not reached the same legendary indie status of his former band, Grant Lee Buffalo, more than a mystery it's a crime.
"Virginia Creeper," his third solo album, may not be as breathtaking as the hushed "Ladies Love's Oracle" nor as adventurous as "Mobilize," but it is worthy of their company.
Phillips is a remarkable songwriter, capable of the utmost intimacy at the drop of a hat, at ease with creating melodies that, before you know it, can give your thoughts its proper music.
The spare accompaniment here is flawless, mainly gorgeous violin and his acoustic guitar, subtle drums and tasteful piano, and some mandolin and steel guitar which tinge most tunes with Country overtones without lacking a Pop sensibility. Tunes like "Making Memory," "Mona Lisa" or "Always Friends" have exquisite arrangements and remind you of what a great singer Phillips is.
In total, this is an album without low points, more likely the kind where everyone may end up with different new favorites.

The Mellow Fellow.......2004-07-10

Grant-Lee's "Mona Lisa" recently appeared on an episode of TV's "Summerland." It's a mellow opener to this fine set. Grant-Lee's voice shines exceptionally well in this stripped-down instrumental setting. "Lily-A-Passion" boasts an original melody with Richard Dodd's lovely cello and a poetic lyric, "She's a piratey soul, full a' vinegar & glitter; She's a song of her own from down the wrong end of the river." My favorite track is "Dirty Secret" with Grant-Lee's airy Nick Drake-like vocal spreading over his slow wistful melody, "From the ballroom you can hear them laughing, pretty maidens & your own Don Juan." "Calamity Jane" may or may not be about Jane Fonda, but the strings flesh out the restless churning melody, "Washed in the tears of the revolution, babe; born in the back of a Studebaker, American-made." "Far End of the Night" is another lyrical masterpiece, "Not a rail to grasp ahold nor a savior there beside, just kept walkin' like Virginia to the surf toward the far end of the night." Gram Parsons is one of country-rock's most interesting characters having launched Emmylou Harris' career, producing two classic LPs after the Flying Burrito Brothers, and then having his corpse kidnapped after his death. Phillips takes his signature song "Hickory Wind" and does it proudly with a great aching vocal that accents the emotional lonliness of the track, "In South Carolina there are many tall pines; I remember the oak tree that we used to climb, but now when I'm lonesome I always pretend that I'm getting the feel of hickory wind." "Virginia Creeper" is an excellent disc that shows Phillips to be a quite mellow fellow and is gorgeous with its lyrical depth and stunning melodies. I might have enjoyed a couple full-throttle fast tempo tunes in the mix, but what's here is excellent. Enjoy!

Average customer rating:

Interior States
Nathan Sassover
Manufacturer: Inhabit Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Styles | Music

General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0007G8RQ6
Release Date: 2005-01-25

Tracks:

Sublimina One
Sublimina Two
Sublimina Three
Enigmatique
What LastsVanishes
Implied Spaces
Liminal Moments
Retroscendence
Quiescence
Antinomies
Mimesis
Empyrian
Now That You Know
Darkness Beckons
Triadic Latitudes

Tracks:

In the Shadows of Desire
As if Time Matters
Silence of the Moon
Flashpoint
Long Quiet River
Interna
Consonance
Oneness
The Distortion of Memory
Torrid Zone
Cymbelline
Anomaly
Memories of the Future
The Presence of Absence
Monsoon Seas

Tracks:

Inference
Nearness
Suite: Andalusian Tangent
Querencia
Desuetude
Stream of Time
Symbiotica
Vertiginous
The Nature of Longing
From a Partial Vantage
Silence and Stillness
Innervation
Concentris

Album Description

'Interior States', a three (3)CD solo piano collection reflects InhabitMusic's progressive outlook and is motivated by an ever enlarging view that boundaries of expression are elastic... musical genres and identities are morphable and unbounded.

Music:

Music

music

Music

The Muffs

Beethoven: complete Cello Sonatas Vol. 1

Ballet Highlights

Best of the Bushbands [Import]

Beats from a Single Drum [Import]

Atlantic Fantasy

Bernstein Conducts Candide

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5; Overtures

Bat out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony [Live] [Import]

Aaron Copland: Organ Symphony/Dance Symphony/Short Symphony/Orchestral Variations

American Songbook Series: Waller/Razaf

Bebop Masters

A Su Memoria

For It Is Written

Charles McPherson With Strings "A Tribute to Charlie Parker"