Please welcome the second single off All the Lies That I Have Told—”From a Golden State”. This track is a bit of a sonic departure from what we’ve been up to lately, and is essentially the sound I was going for 10 years ago when I made Tourniquet, but I’m fortunate to be working with far more talented musicians and producers now, whereas Tourniquet was largely a solo effort.
From the Press Release:
As a 9th Grade English teacher, Grover Anderson noticed a peculiar phenomenon—if a family is going to move, they’ll often do so the summer between middle school and high school for one of their children. Presumably they choose this time because their kid is already switching schools; if they’re already in a forced transition, why not rip the band-aid off all at once? Sure, it’s one of the most formidable time periods in their young lives, but they’ll be fine, right?
Grover wrote “From a Golden State” late at night around a summer campfire, high in the Sierra Nevadas. It was his two year old daughter’s first time camping, and he wondered whether she would continue to appreciate it as she grew older. Many of his students dismissed the majesty of the wilderness surrounding their community, and as he reflected on possible reasons, the narrative of “From a Golden State” and its lonely protagonist began to unfold.
Recognizing that this was not a typically “Grover Anderson & the Lampoliers” song, both in melody and lyrical content, Grover reached out to friend and collaborator Kiel Williams (Risky Biscuits, Ghost Coach) to produce the track. Layering electric guitars, synths, pedal steel, and a beautiful string arrangement over Grover’s guitar and piano, Kiel crafted a song unlike anything Grover had previously released. Mastered by Richard Dodd (Tyler Childers’ Purgatory, Margo Price’s That’s How Rumors Get Started), “From a Golden State” is the second single off Grover Anderson & the Lampoliers’ July album All The Lies That I Have Told, following the May 7 release of “Willie Nelson”.
Produced by Kiel Williams
Lyrics by Grover Anderson (ASCAP) • Music by Grover Anderson & Kiel Williams
Performed by:
Grover Anderson — Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano
Kiel Williams — Guitars, Pedal Steel, Keys, Cello
Josh Certo — Drums
Austin Broder — Violin
Mixed by Kiel Williams • Mastered by Richard Dodd
You won’t believe how they handle snow days in California
These kids lose their shit over just an inch or two
Dad can roll his eyes and try to blame it on the transplants
But his eyes look like everybody’s do
Everybody asks me how you’re doing
So hard to picture you existing here
We can’t get the Times and it’s an hour to Trader Joe’s
And I can barely breathe two months a year
The river’s fine, but it’s overrated
Every teacher at my school looks just like me
All the locals are so jaded
Hating everyone who pays their salaries
But I’ll keep on pretending this is home
Because I know that’s what you wanted me to do
You taught me how to live alone
But I need more than memories to pull me through
I bet I can love to suffer more than you
Grandma’s told me every story three times
There’s a hard drive full of prepubescent me
And when I hate my dad, and school, and poetry, and cancer
Sometimes I hate you the most for leaving
And I’ll keep on pretending that I’m fine
Because survivor’s guilt’s pathetically convenient
You were even beautiful in dying
And I’m too much like my father to relent
From the narcissistic self-flaggelence
I pretend I’m a spacewoman’s daughter
I project mission completion dates
I pretend I’m a spacewoman’s daughter
It’s all relative, so I’ll just wait, wait, wait