built like alaska

The isolation of the Central Valley has provided Built Like Alaska (Neil- vocals/keyboards/guitar; Matt- bass; David- drums; Susane- keyboards/guitars/samplers; Sean- guitars) with the physical and mental space to develop into a creative force. Their new album contains vivid pictures of rural life (and the ever quickening fade of said life) with all the beauty and struggle that comes with it. Autumnland was recorded in Oakdale CA, near Modesto, at Built Like Alaska's studio, Taint of the Earth, by band member Neil Jackson with additional help from friend Lucky Lew, who has also helped on many of Grandaddy's recordings in the past. Autumnland as Neil puts it, "is like smelling the air full of chimney smoke from the first fire of the year or making a homemade Halloween costume when you were a kid, comforting feelings a person hopes they never lose." From the airy keyboards of "Train Wrecks" to themes of small-town ennui that permeate "Does Your Mother Feel Sick?" and "Happy Home", Built Like Alaska is able to transcend the open estrangement of the central valley with majestic, melancholic, music.