At this point, with Grandaddy reportedly put to pasture, it's go time. Sumday was a pleasant ride for what it was worth. That said, the endless digital-age references and mid-tempo breeze-a-longs dug Grandaddy's fourth full-length into a creative trench. The band that had always stayed out of focus could now be hit with the right kind of zoom; suddenly they were predictable, if not intolerably so.
Now that Grandaddy Slim have been around long enough to inspire a new generation of technology-zapped fuzzpoppers – Midlake, Umbrella Sequence among their ilk – expectations remain high for the Killafornians. Excerpts From the Diary of Toddzilla EP sated the thirst somewhat, but to fully slake those smitten by The Sophtware Slump, Daddy needed to shout their farewell from the mountaintops. If you're gonna go out, why not go out on top? Too bad, so sad, as Just Like the Fambly Cat is appreciably better than its predecessor, but a far cry from the bliss we've all come to expect.
With their guitars still sporting tickets to the gun show on numbers like "Jeez Louise," the five-piece prove their quasi-grunge/faux-metal mettle is locked into place. That could've been predicted, but more enigmatic tracks like "The Animal World" would have been enough to keep the Fambly Cat well-fed. Built upon a stump of light synth and an ongoing loop of a plane landing, "Animal World" casts upon Grandaddy a spotlight we haven't seen in a few moons.
But said track is anathema to the majority of Just Like the Fambly Cat, on which Grandaddy fumble for a switch that might light the way to a fresh perspective. They dabble, but not enough; they diddle, but not in the right spot. The result is less than orgasmic. Jason Lytle's lyrics are perfunctory at best. Although he earns higher marks for not relegating himself to the rote personal observations of Sumday, his newly found vagaries are just as stale and twice as dry.
The zip of the uppity "50%" and "Skateboarding Saves Me Twice" go a long way to quenching the doubts left by contrived – for Grandaddy – yawners like "Where I'm Anymore" and "Campershell Dreams," and carbon copy "Summer... It's Gone" makes concessions for its repetitive verses and choruses with a sensational mid-song cleansing. It's not enough. "Good enough" has never been a descriptor worthy of Grandaddy, but with another fair, nondescript effort, the quintet inch toward an identity far removed from the time when an indie-rock discussion couldn't be held without them as a keynote topic.
I'll be honest: this record hit me hard initially and tailed off drastically with repeated listens, and that likely has something to do with this reviewer having spent a lot of time in Daddy's musical matrix, maybe too much. Thus disclaimers must be staked. It must be mentioned that by almost any post-Radiohead band's standards, Just Like the Fambly Cat is a peak to aspire to. Conversely, by Grandaddy's standards it's a step up only because Sumday took them two rungs down. Rarely does it seem not only necessary but advantageous for a band of relatively young musicians to part ways. However, rock's biggest digital goofball chompers might have run out of new, refreshing trips to Komputerland. Perhaps we should let sleeping dogs lie, or, in this case, die.
1. Whatever Happened
2. Jeez Louise
3. Summer...It's Gone
4. Oxygen/Aux Send
5. Rear View Mirror
6. Animal World, The
7. Skateboarding Saved My Life Twice
8. Where I'm Anymore
9. 50%
10. Guide Down Denied
11. Elevate Myself
12. Campershell Dreams
13. Disconnecty
14. This Is How It Always Starts