Everlasting

The drums smack you in the face first, like a hailstorm with no sign of letting up anytime soon. It's a jarring but joyous sensation, as if someone just snapped you out of a fever dream. And with that, memories of simpler times sparkle and fade, the muddled memories of Grandchildren creator Aleksander Martray. The son of a high ranking military officer, Martray was born on an Army base in Germany and raised on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, aside from a couple extended stays in places like West Point, his life was essentially a scramble for something - anything - that'd help him make sense of it all. "I was restless from a really young age," explains Martray, "so music and art were a way of making a home for myself. My head was just swimming with stories, melodies, movies, dreams - that was my reality." Grandchildren's debut album, Everlasting, is a culmination of all that restlessness, starting with the track "Cold Warrior" and it's sputtering percussion. A six-gun salute of sorts, it's an homage to Martray's father, a man who's devoted his life to bringing our country, and his family, back to the way things used to be. "Things weren't any better, though," says Martray. "They were just different." Maybe that's why Grandchildren's sonic collage feels like a safe haven for multiple realities (his father's, the one in Martray's head, our collective subconscious), as scored by frayed electronics, fireside folk melodies, richly-woven orchestral-pop flourishes, and field recordings from Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.