Jason Lytle is the bizarro Thom Yorke. Three years after Radiohead’s OK Computer came out in 1997, Jason Lytle’s former California-based band, Grandaddy, released The Sophtware Slump. Both albums dealt with man’s relationship with technology, and both defined the sound of each respective artist. The similarities end there, however. While Radiohead achieved huge mainstream success, Grandaddy failed to achieve any. When Radiohead went for a melodramatic, electronic sound, Grandaddy went for a synth-heavy, atmospheric sound. If there exists a bizarro universe, both would simply switch places.
In some ways, it is fitting that Jason Lytle’s Dept. of Disappearance deals with death, loss and lost time. Following his band’s breakup in 2006, he released his first solo album, Yours Truly, The Commuter, dealing with the slump that was the last few years of Grandaddy and his return to his own solo work. This time, Lytle seems to have detached himself from the album and created an atmospheric universe, something he’s proven he can do since The Sophtware Slump. It’s perhaps his least experimental but most refined album yet.
In fact, it is Lytle’s style that is able to hold this album together. Simple, somewhat corny lyrics like, “Get up and go, you can do it / Everything is going to be all right,” work when paired with the right chord progression and Lytle’s reaffirming voice. The emotion in “Somewhere There’s a Someone” transcends a typical love-yearning song. His skill with these fantastical synth progressions and airy, atmospheric voice channel the emotions that Lytle wants us to have, dealing with a finite existence in an infinite timespan.
Dept. of Disappearance is Jason Lytle’s bread and butter. It’s the atmospheric rock that has defined his career. While it may not be his most innovative, it is his most refined album yet.
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