Musicians who become parents often feel a pull to document the experience, yet the results can frequently lean toward the mundane. The challenge lies in translating the deeply personal, universal experience of raising a child into art that resonates beyond the artist’s own life. On his fifth album, Fondness, etc., Alejandro Rose-Garcia—the Austin-based singer, songwriter and guitarist known as Shakey Graves—attempts to navigate this transition, offering a glimpse into the new contours of his life following the birth of his daughter in 2024.
The album serves as a meditation on change, as Rose-Garcia moves away from the self-absorbed, road-weary persona of his earlier work toward the grounded responsibilities of family life. While he occasionally falls into the trap of general platitudes, the record finds its strength when he contemplates how parenthood fundamentally alters one’s relationship with time.
Reflecting on the Passage of Time
The theme of time is central to the project. In the opening track, “Don’t Change a Thing,” Rose-Garcia grapples with the fear that his best days might be behind him—a sentiment that will strike a chord with any parent who has found themselves awake in the middle of the night tending to a child. Other tracks, such as “On My Own” and “Time Flies,” further explore the impossibility of turning back the clock and the way life’s most precious moments seem to accelerate while the difficult ones linger.
Musically, the album is a testament to Rose-Garcia’s growth as a multi-instrumentalist. Eschewing the more expansive production of his 2023 effort Movie of the Week, Fondness, etc. opts for a pared-down, intimate sound. His guitar work remains as imaginative as ever, providing a skeletal structure for his sleepy, plaintive vocals. The inclusion of instrumentals like “Suddenly” and “I Once Was an Ocean” highlights his ability to evoke atmosphere without the need for lyrics, using rhythmic acoustic patterns and surf-noir electric guitar to ground the listener in a specific mood.
A New Chapter
By the conclusion of the record, there is a sense of resolution. On the final tracks, Rose-Garcia appears to have made his peace with the upheavals of his new reality. Whether he is offering advice to his daughter or simply processing his own existential insights, the music remains rooted in a subdued, honest approach. While he may not have completely escaped the pitfalls of the “parenting album” genre, Fondness, etc. stands as a sincere, if occasionally uneven, portrait of an artist evolving in real-time.
