Editorial Reviews
Hard Grammar [Explicit Lyrics]
Music Review:
Music Review
Five Premieres: Chamber Works with Guitars
Harold Friedell: In The Spirit's Tether, Choral & Instrumental Music
International Music: Accordio Mania
Alternative Press
"Some of the sweetest pop vocalizing heard this year"
Exclaim
"Markel is a songwriter with a wealth of talent"
Album Description
"Hard Grammar" is the 2nd full length CD by Seattle based Graig Markel. The album explores the places your mind goes when it's late at night and you've spent too much time alone examining your problems. All of his songs are infused with a touch of soul and a crystalline honesty that leave you warm and a bit unsettled. In all his songs, Markel seems to be yearning for something, balancing bouts of emptiness and anger. Actually, Randy Newman meets D'Angelo isn't a bad way of thinking about most of Markel's music, which combines the confessional singer-songwriter approach and the slick processed soul tendencies of the '70s. Highlights on this album include "D'Azz", a sensual slow-burning shoo-be-doo-wop torch song, and "Live Without It" a rollicking pale-faced R&B number, plus 8 more.