Grant-Lee Phillips

Last year, the music biz imploded. If you didn’t know where to look, you might conclude that everything these days sucks. Overlooked among last year’s album crop is this gem from Stockton native Grant-Lee Phillips. Mobilize was Phillips’ second solo disc following the demise of his group Grant Lee Buffalo; his first was the self-released Ladies Love Oracle from 2000. Here, Phillips goes widescreen with his intensely melodic brand of British-influenced pop—think John Lennon’s early solo work, along with David Bowie’s most fertile artistic period. While much of GLB’s output following its brilliant debut, Fuzzy, seemed monochromatic in a singer-songwriterly way, as if Phillips was pulling his punches, on Mobilize his visions positively burst with vivid color. Check out the bluesy, Bowie-esque “Spring Released,” or the irrepressibly poppy “Beautiful Dreamers,” if you think music’s dead. It ain’t.