Jetty Grove

The risk in putting together a full album of midtempo or downright slow songs, all of them dynamically static and subdued, is that the music might start to weigh on a listener – or worse, bore them. Jetty Grove doesn’t shy away from this risk with Neighborhood Dog, trotting out twelve tracks that mine similar dynamic, rhythmic, and sonic ground. The fact that it works is testament to Jetty Grove’s talent, while also owing a debt to the authenticity of the delivery and recordings.

Each of the songs is built around the acoustic guitar, with tasteful electric flourishes and a bare-bones rhythm section of bass and drums. There’s potential aplenty, and much of it is delightfully realized, but all of its accomplishment comes within the confines of a lo-fi aesthetic. The drum sounds in particular range from tinny to gritty, all of it with the warmth of haphazard amateurism. While there’s merit and purpose to these DIY recordings, they often make the songs sound incomplete, still waiting for their full potential to emerge. 

The more finished sounding songs here, including “Split Decision,” “Helium Head,” and “It’s Already Early in the Morning” offer some tasty melodies amid molasses-thick moods. Even with tempos firmly on the slow side, these songs are still engaging and enticing. The predominant minor keys and hushed performances suggest that this is music meant to be heard alone: a soundtrack for the solitary, ideal for headphones on an urban stroll on a rainy day.

Yet Neighborhood Dog manages not to take itself too seriously – see the conversational intrusions of “Distant” and the whimsical melody of opener “Catalyst.” Even the paced-down dirge of the title track “Neighborhood Dog” manages to infuse hopefulness into the arrangement, while other songs do so via harmonies, clever progressions, or the organic feel of the production. 

Many of Jetty Grove’s songs feel sound like half-realized masterpieces, cut short by gear or time or the right space to capture the true essence of the songs. But the half that does get realized is more than enough. The musicianship, craft, and intuition at work in both the songs and their recordings makes for vexingly downtrodden yet uplifting album.