Highly-Anticipated New Studio Album From Modern Troubadour, Grant-Lee Phillips

NEW YORK (Top 40 Charts/ Rounder Records) - Although many contemporary musicians lay claim to the troubadour tradition, Grant-Lee Phillips truly embodies the legacy of courtly poet-musicians, crafting songs that combine lyrical storytelling and a dreamy, down-to-earth delivery. The New York Times has characterized Phillips as an artist who sings "with the conviction that rock can still be heroic." His latest and 5th solo album in seven years, entitled Strangelet, is slated for a March 27 release on Zoë / Rounder Records. It was written, engineered, produced and performed almost entirely by Phillips himself with a little help from his friends including R.E.M. guitarist, Peter Buck.

Following on the heels of Phillips' 2004 critically acclaimed Virginia Creeper, Strangelet's twelve tracks, smoothly blend tales of heartache, conflict, and loss with stories of love, hope, and redemption. It's a work that is essentially grounded in the concept of confronting reality, relinquishing fear of the unknown, and refusing to be destroyed by things you can't see, things you can't control, and things that may not even exist. It was recorded in Phillips' home studio in Los Angeles as well as in Seattle at Juniper Studios, home of drummer Bill Rieflin (Blackouts, Ministry, etc.). Part of the intimate feel of Strangelet stems from a personal, hands-on approach. In addition to writing, producing, and engineering the material, Phillips himself played most of the instruments including piano, bass, guitars, organ, baritone and even ukulele-whatever struck his fancy and felt right in the composition. Buck sat in on a couple of tracks ("Soft Asylum" and "Fountain of Youth") while fellow musician Eric Gorfain contributed a number of string arrangements to the album with his string section, The Section, notably on the forlorn "Same Blue Devils," a track that Phillips describes as one of the more "intimate corridors" on the album.

Phillips has always had a clear and consistent vision of his artistic and musical direction to which both critics and fans have responded enthusiastically. As frontman of the engaging indie cult rock outfit, Grant-Lee Buffalo, he was named male vocalist of the year in 1995 by Rolling Stone. He was called a "soulful balladeer" and one "who continues to solidify his place in the upper tier of Americana," by USA Today. ABC News called him "one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation..."

The dramatic sweep of Phillips' music is so compelling that it has expanded beyond the realm of albums. In recent years, a number of his recordings have added emotional richness to a diverse range of films and television shows, from Gilmore Girls ("Spring Released," "Lily-A-Passion") a show where he also has appeared as the Town Troubadour to Roswell ("Beautiful Dreamers"), Six Feet Under ("Humankind"), House ("Happiness"), and Grey's Anatomy ("Under the Milky Way"). He also scored the entire first season of ABC's What About Brian.

The subtlety of Phillips' compositions is a testament to the "less is more" approach, which is particularly apropos for an album named after a tiny subatomic particle with a massive gravitational pull.