Today’s tip-off is Self Help, the solo project of Mock Orange and Heypenny member Zach Grace.
We’re somewhat returning to the roots of the tip-off, which was highlighting an album that wasn’t new, but that we felt was criminally overlooked and underwritten about. Self Help’s debut album The Miracle definitely fits the bill. Released in the fall of 2010 the album is the solo work of Zach Grace, at the time best known as a member of Mock Orange, and who has recently also joined Heypenny. The Miracle will be a pleasant surprise to fans of both of those bands, as Grace steps to the forefront with a heady and confident mix of guitar driven indie rock and Bowie influenced melodies. Every song is full of solid pop hooks and Grace builds on those hooks to take each one into exciting sonic and compositional territories. There’s a lot going on with The Miracle – shades of 90’s alternative rock, Pink Floyd-esque grandeur of the Flaming Lips variety, a kind of lo-fi and more groove oriented Radiohead, even a few things that sound like a darker take on Mock Orange’s sound. It’s a lot of ingredients, but it works in a big way. Epic but accessible, Grace has given us an album that stands up to anything either one of his other bands have released – and that’s saying something. Check out a video for the song “The Bed In My Mind Is Made” below, and grab your copy of the album here.
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