Legendary indie-rock band Grandaddy will release their hotly anticipated first new studio album in 7 years Blu Wav (Dangerbird Records) on February 16, 2024. Final album preview single “Long as I’m Not the One” is a heartbreak ballad set to a deceivingly lush, comforting composition that chugs along and envelops listeners like a warm blanket. Jason Lytle shares, “While the lyrics arrived early and remained mostly unchanged, I ended up recording two or three other versions of this song and just couldn’t get it right. Too folky and/or too country was the culprit. Luckily, I hung in there and settled on this rendition. Just enough shine and dirt. Just enough modern and vintage. I’m still confused as to what it is, but that’s pretty normal for me.”

Blu Wav is inspired by the overwhelming beauty of nature to the mundane moments that spark life’s strongest memories. With the album title meant to be a literal mash-up of “bluegrass” and “new wave”, the new collection has a distinct feel, a uniform vibe, and a somewhat unexpected sound. It was conceived as Grandaddy maestro Jason Lytle was driving through the Nevada desert, and Patti Page’s “Tennessee Waltz” came across the classic country station on the radio. He was immediately intrigued by the possibilities of what it might sound like to keep the slow sway and sweet, simple lyrics of the bluegrass waltz while adding layers of dense synthesizers and the electronics of new wave. It incorporates the lo-fi lushness and sometimes-psychedelic orchestration Grandaddy is known for with Lytle’s first foray into true country. Seven of its 13 songs are waltzes, and as Lytle notes, “there’s an inordinate amount of pedal steel.”