Kristian Grostad makes the sort of singer-songwriter music that gives deft pop a run for its money. Chart-compatible music that pulses with a dream-like quality. Pop music that remembers a time when its purveyors wielded guitars and used power and persuasion, muscle and melody to carve a legacy in the annals of music history, rather than throw together the lowest common denominator, repetitive moves, and grooves.
“Desert Island” is all of those things and more: a deft, dynamic flow of guitar-driven vibes, robust and resonant yet infectious and easy on the ear. And, due to my age, I hear echoes of bands like The Go-Betweens and The Field Mice (Give “Letting Go” a spin and you’ll listen to what I’m talking about.) That is good company to find yourself in.
But Grostad is too smart to play it straight, and so what in lesser hands would be a nod to the wilfully twee, three-minute pop song past turns into a much more adventurous proposition, at times revelling in dream-pop haze, jangling jauntiness, indie adventure, and pop poise. As the song moves through its sonic seasons and dynamic evolutions, the music ebbs and flows to match the song’s themes of isolation, loneliness, and emotional connections.
“Desert Island” is a song that reminds us of just how adventurous pop music, in the broadest sense of the meaning, once was, and how adventurous it can be again.
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