GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS : ALL THAT YOU CAN DREAM

1. A Sudden Place
2. Cruel Trick
3. Peace is a Delicate Thing
4. All That You Can Dream
5. Rats in a Barrel
6. Cannot Trust The Ground
7. Cut to the Ending
8. You Can't Hide
9. My Eyes Have Seen
10. Remember This
11. All by Heart

Label : Yep Roc Records

Release Date : May 20, 2022

Length : 47:19

Review (AllMusic) : It was a very common story in 2021 and 2022 - a musician was planning to hit the road in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to their touring plans, and stuck at home, they decided their home studio might be good for more than just cutting demos. Grant-Lee Phillips was gearing up to tour in support of 2020's Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff when the world suddenly shut its doors, and as he observed a rich variety of chaos while homebound, he started writing songs about it all. 2022's All That You Can Dream doesn't sound like a homemade album - many of Phillips' usual collaborators (including Jamie Edwards on keyboards, Eric Heywood on pedal steel, Jennifer Condos on bass, and Jay Bellerose on drums) were happy to fly in their parts, and the traditionally personal feel and the smokey caress of Phillips' voice are very much present in these intimate performances. However, a more careful listen to the songs shows how much All That You Can Dream is a product of its time and place. As Phillips watched many daily lives get shifted into neutral, armed thugs storm the U.S. Capitol building, immigrants get treated like animals, and many of the cornerstones of American society and culture threatening to vanish in an instant, he was writing songs. All That You Can Dream is not so much angry as gently appalled, the voice of a thoughtful man saddened and puzzled by the upending of all that seems reasonable in his world. Phillips isn't Billy Bragg, and he delivers his messages with the graceful impressionistic croon that has been the hallmark of his work since Grant Lee Buffalo broke through in the 1990s. Phillips' commentary on the state of the world is quite artful, but a look at the lyrics and a careful listen to the vocals allows the activist side of the songs to step forward, and when they take shape it's effective in the way it whispers rather than shouts in our ear. As a vocalist and songwriter, Grant-Lee Phillips has lost none of the ability and magic that's made him worth hearing for the past 30 years, and whether you want to hear its messages as forefront or subtext, All That You Can Dream reminds us of the reasons he's still worth hearing in the 21st century.

Review (Rough Trade) : Grant-Lee Phillips' new album, All That You Can Dream, is a turbulent and highly musical rumination that finds the veteran singer-songwriter addressing the strange fragility of life. The collection of songs bears the markings of his prolific output, a melodic prowess and an ear for lyric in everyday conversation. Comparable to the works Low or Duster, Phillips offers a salve to a wounded world, struggling to regain equilibrium. This is Grant-Lee Phillips at his most reflective, wrestling with the most pertinent of questions. Focusing on life in quarantine ("A Sudden Place," "Cruel Trick") and the ever-shifting political landscape ("Rats in a Barrel," "Cut to the Ending"), this collection shows that Phillips remains one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time.

Review (Entertainment Focus) : The use of subtext is a feature of strong writing: it's clear what you're writing about, even when you're never quite say it, exactly. The songwriting on Grant-Lee Phillips's new album 'All That You Can Dream' is full of this kind of use of subtext. He never has to name exactly what or who he is talking about: the context of his writing, the images and the metaphors, make it clear. On the track 'Peace Is A Delicate Thing' he uses the image, "like snow on the ground." It's simple, but powerful, in its implications: temporary, fleeting, quickly gone when things change. While the song was inspired by the mob assault on the United States Congress that took place on January 6, 2021, it works at a higher level of generality and abstraction, speaking to the fragility political arrangements, and even more besides. That same incident also inspired 'Rats In A Barrel' which has a different emotional tenor. Here, Phillips is exasperated, tired, frustrated. To say he's angry would be wrong. He's at his wit's end trying to understand how this happened, and how, beyond just this incident, an obviously shallow demagogue like the man behind it could ever have tricked so many people. He's straining for empathy here, trying to stretch out to make sense of difficult circumstances and confusing times, where many of us who share his convictions are willing to write these people off. The explicit reference to Lincoln in 'Rats In A Barrel' appears to tie the song to the later. 'My Eyes Have Seen' (assuming it references "Mine eyes have the see the glory of the coming of the Lord," the first line in the Civil War Ballad, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic") is the most explicit song on the album, directly referencing the mistreatment of immigrants and asylum-seekers on America's southern border, looking at the ways we all bare some of the guilt for this situation. While many of the songs here are political, others are responses to more personal situations or other issues. 'A Sudden Place', which kicks off the album, was inspired by 2019 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, and the very sudden way an irreplaceable historical monument was permanently and tragically damaged. 'Remember This' and 'You Can't Hide' are Phillips at his most personal, a musical letter to his daughter at the beginning of her teen, and a message about change and growth. 'All You Can Dream' is a strong song with a social theme, albeit not one inspired by any particular social event, so much as by questioning the notion of progress more generally. The music here is fairly sparse, in part a product of the artist's taste, but also, to a degree out of necessity, due to being made during the pandemic. It suits the material well, and allows the songs to feature Phillips's magnificent voice, which is always a highlight of his albums. Grant Lee-Phillips's albums are always beautiful, well-written, and well-constructed, and 'All That You Can Dream' is yet another terrific record in his catalog.