From Driveways’ Lost View is the second full-length from St. Louis’ Magnolia Summer. In contrast to the hushed, intimate quality of the band’s 2003 debut, Levers and Pulleys, Driveways reveals a louder, rawer, and more spontaneous side of Magnolia Summer, one that’s already quite familiar to fans of the live shows. Distorted guitars buzz and howl against the blast of drums and bass, but despite the aggressive edge, Magnolia Summer retains its distinctive grace and vulnerability. With a band that features stalwarts of the St. Louis music community including; John Horton (Bottle Rockets), Mark Ray (Waterloo), Aaron Zeverski (Ring, Cicada), and Greg Lamb (The Lineman), Songwriter-multiinstrumentalist Chris Grabau crafts songs of isolation and disconnect: a life caught between work and home, love and loss, heart and hope, thoughts and words.
Over the last few years, Magnolia Summer has shared the stage with The Court and Spark, Robyn Hitchcock, Ken Stringfellow, Marah, Richmond Fontaine, the Bottle Rockets, Glossary, and Milton Mapes. The band was nominated in three categories in the 2004 St. Louis Riverfront Times Music Awards: “Best Americana Band,” “Album of the Year,” and “Artist of the Year.” Magnolia Summer was also nominated for “Best Americana Band” in the 2005 St. Louis Riverfront Times Music Awards. Magnolia Summer recently joined the Bottle Rockets, Jay Farrar, and Fontella Bass to contribute new tracks for the Chuck Berry tribute, Brown Eyed Handsome Man: St. Louis Salutes the Father of Rock N’ Roll.
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PlaybackSTL REVIEW of From Driveways Lost View
At the risk of giving them the critical kiss of death, Magnolia Summer handles musical reverie with as much skill as they do musical revelry, as illustrated in style by From Driveways’ Lost View, the St. Louis quintet’s new CD.
That 11-track Undertow Music release succeeds Levers and Pulleys, their lauded debut from three years ago, and features lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Grabau, guitarist John Horton, and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Mark Ray, as did the earlier disc, joined now by bassist/vocalist Greg Lamb and drummer Aaron Zeveski.
From Driveways’ Lost View, as suggested, should cement Magnolia Summer’s reputation as a band of thrilling contrasts, willing to embrace in equal measure full-tilt-boogie rock ’n’ roll and a reflectiveness too often alien to the genre even today. In that regard, the disc’s first and last tracks seem emblematic; it opens with “Along for the Ride,” a rock amalgam of vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation powerful enough to prompt shivers—it’s likely a showstopper live—and closes with “Palindrome,” a down-tempo number whose very title will doubtless furrow the brows (if only momentarily) of dedicated headbangers.
Between them, Grabau, the band’s songwriter, exhibits a deliciously idiosyncratic eye for detail, especially on “Director,” a sly indictment of today’s corporate labyrinth, and “Words for the War.” Otherwise, melodic highlights include “Sum of All Fears,” with Ray’s foreboding keyboards; “The Passing Days,” with its tight, rocking intro counterpoising Grabau’s whispery vocals; and the penultimate “Casting Satellites,” with the sonic delicacy of twilight in mid-May.
So—the verdict? The adjective magnolious, according to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, means “grand, splendid.” In that respect, it would also nicely describe Magnolia Summer’s From Driveways’ Lost View. - Bryan A. Hollerbach
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ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
The music of Magnolia Summer swirls and lurches, meanders and stutters, dips and dives. It is a music rooted in pop forms, with melodic verses and choruses, yet not a music that sounds like anything familiar. Since the release two years ago of this St. Louis band’s debut album, “Levers and Pulleys,” Magnolia Summer has mutated onstage, developing into a louder, more focused, more direct outfit. But the melodies still float as if they were mists ascending from a river.
WHERE MAGAZINE - TOP 10 BANDS TO SEE AND HEAR
Part of the St. Louis Undertow Music umbrella of bands/producers/designers, Magnollia Summer crafts a pleasing blend of American folk and rock, with an ability to turn-up or turn-down with equal alpomb. Grounded by the vocals and songwriting of Chris Grabau, the four-piece band’s ably captured on the dozen-song CD, “Levers and Pulleys,” which showcases smart songwriting,
fine production and a winning way with melody.
NO DEPRESSION July / August 2003
What goes into an album that feels timeless? Sonics, certainly, and Levers and Pulleys brims with all the right touches, from the plangent hum of electric guitars and their underlying textual bed of gently strummed acoustics, to the old-chum familiarity of Chris Grabau's vocals, to the instrumental nuances (violin, E-bow, Hammond organ, even sitar and mellotron) that simultaneously lend an old-time tone and a vibe that's sunshiny and psychedelic - The Band meets the Jayhawks, maybe. Add in Grabau's heartfelt, romance-pursued / won / shattered lyrics, and you've got a killer formula.But as listeners, in our minds do we bother prying parts away from the whole? Certainly on tunes such as the power-poppish Gin Blossoms-like "Wish you Well", the Cajun-cadenced "Baton Rouge", and the slide-guitar-fueled waltz "Standing Still", one's instinct is to jettison the intellectual process altogether. Just one spin of the signature song "Summer Moon" - all burnished twang, sweet fiddle melody and yearning vocals (a cross between Neil Young and Jeff Tweedy, Grabau has a boyish falsetto to make a Catholic schoolgirl swoon) - will have you gasping from the band's bright glow.A dedicated critic might be inclined to tick off crucial group stats - it's Grabau's baby; the sextet's members have played with (or do double time in) Waterloo, Ring Cicada, Mike Ireland & Holler, and Jay Farrar's band; that sort of stuff. But for me, well, the weather's turned warm, the Magnolia Summer looms, and suddenly the time feels right for dancing in the streets. -- Fred Mills
ALLMUSIC
Although they go by the group name of Magnolia Summer, this is really a loose collective of St. Louis-based musicians led by the duo of producer/multi-instrumentalist Mark Ray and singer/songwriter Chris Grabau. Recorded over a two-year period and finally released in late 2003, the album is as languid and humid as the collective's name. With a strummy Americana sound somewhere between Son Volt and the Pernice Brothers, these songs slowly grow on you. Grabau's vulnerable, barely whispered vocals perfectly convey the music's delicate and intimate strokes. Like the sepia-toned graphics, the muted approach, especially during the final half, imbues the project with a soft, low-key, and thoughtful air that invites repeated spins. Grabau possesses an innocent voice, somewhat like Gram Parsons, which imparts even the harder-edged songs with a pensive, unpretentious edge. Although he is the dominant focus, contributions from Jeremy Brown on violin and especially guitarist/bassist John Horton are indispensable ingredients to this stew. Songs like "Summer Moon" shimmer with subtle licks and melodies that slowly creep and seep into your brain. Not all is quiet -- "Wish You Well" cranks out a garage-y blend of tough guitars and crashing drums -- but even on its loudest moments, the album exudes a reflective, often wistful mood. Grabau also adds synth loops to his predominantly rootsy approach, resulting in the closing "Maybe Someday," one of this beautiful and moving disc's most tender moments. - Hal Horowitz
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