Hanging on in the computer age

Somewhere in the bleakest of all possible worlds lie the fellows from Grandaddy. Obsessed with the dissolution of nature and its eventual and inevitable displacement by technology, the group is able to paint extremely vivid pictures of a burnt-out planet.\nAs songs from the band's previous album, 2001's masterful The Software Slump, about a sad, alcoholic robot foretold, Grandaddy believes that nostalgia is coming on faster these days. Ever look at an Apple IIe or an early cell phone lately and realize that was only 10 to 15 years ago? While technology is their sworn enemy, the Modesto, Calif., Luddites find ways to bring the themes to life by combining acoustic guitars and auteur Jason Lytle's folkie-falsetto with demonstrative computer sounds and dirty synthesizers. \nWith its third full-length, Grandaddy explores the stories of the people in this decaying world. "Becky wondered why/she'd never noticed dragonflies/her drag and click had never yielded anything as perfect/as a dragonfly," chirps Lytle on "The Group Who Couldn't Say," a song about some office workers being overwhelmed by nature on a trip to the country.\nWhile Software Slump was a wilting, pleading record, Sumday is glorious by comparison. The waning prettiness comes around, but Sumday is mainly composed of more electric guitar and some of the greatest pop songs this side of Justin Timberlake's solo record. The opening track and single, "Now It's On" is incredibly bouncy, featuring Grandaddy's trademark knack for the cheap, melodious run. "The Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World" has a Beach Boys-esque chorus harmony to accompany the simple, beatless piano chords.\nThough Lytle may get lost in the specifics, and admittedly Sumday is a little bit too consistently mid-tempo, the spirit of the album is faultless. While not necessarily impenetrable, Grandaddy is able to be smart about composition by befitting Lytle's lyrics with the correct music. In that sense, Sumday becomes reminiscent of Van Morrison's masterwork Astral Weeks.\n"I'm OK with my decay/I have no choice/I have no voice/I have no say/On my decay/I have no choice/so I'll rejoice," Lytle sings on "O.K. With My Decay." It is the suggestion of a post-Apocalyptic world where it's not the sinners who have been washed away, but an interchangeable number of politicos, religiosos and criminals, leaving the computers not to take over, but to rot.