[Reissue] Roadside Graves - If Shacking Up Is All You Want To Do

Not content to let 2009 speak for itself, PHW faves Roadside Graves have already had a busy 2010. First came a Daytrotter session that featured a batch of reworked songs from last year’s Top 10 worthy My Son’s Home as well as a brand new song called “Liv Tyler”. Then came word that said new song would appear on an upcoming EP of new material called You Won’t Be Happy With Me, to be released by Autumn Tone in March.

Well, to prep the world for those upcoming new songs, the Graves have agreed to re-release their debut, 2002’s If Shacking Up Is All You Want To Do. And you thought the band only recently began using really long album titles. Not so. The digital only release is augmented with an additional 6 bonus songs, some newer than others (“Lot Lizards” was written, I believe, for a 2007 compilation that never came out). Lead singer John Gleason, whose guest posts are no stranger around these parts, lent some words about the album to Aquarium Drunkard the other day:

The record is an odd collection of songs. Biblical Joseph spies on Mary through a hole in the basement. A boy pleads with his girlfriend not to commit suicide for the sole reason that he would then be lonely. A man sets the dinner table while his wife is an automobile accident. Listening back now it seems natural. There was no intended audience. We had played in an indie-pop band for years and had recently been infatuated with old country and folk records the songs were written and recorded with the hope that our friends and possibly our families would be amused.

Gleason’s typically humble recollection is an undersell. While not quite as consistent as No One Will Know Where You’ve Been or My Son’s Home, Shacking Up boasts a handful of songs (“Jesus Is A Friend Of The Family”, “Jenny Jump”, “Song For A Dry State”, a couple of others) that stand up well to much of what they've done since. Fans of the band won't want to miss out. You can pick it up beginning this Tuesday.

MP3 :: Jenny Jump
MP3 :: Lot Lizards
(from If Shacking Up Is All You Want To Do. Buy here)
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