Fondness, Etc.

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Fondness, Etc. is Shakey Graves' fifth studio album, released May 15, 2026, on Secret Identity/Dualtone Records. The album marks a deliberate return to the lo-fi, DIY intimacy that defined his early work, particularly his 2011 debut Roll the Bones, after the fuller, more expansive production of his 2023 release Movie of the Week. Written largely during his daughter's first years of life, the nine-song, 36-minute record was recorded in his home studio in Austin in bursts between daycare drop-offs and pickups, tracked on a pair of TASCAM tape machines and shaped by a collection of well-worn instruments — including a 1932 Gibson guitar that reportedly survived a World War II bunker fire. The title itself is a self-effacing twist on the phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder," and the album as a whole grapples with the quiet grief and gratitude that accompany growing up, as Grateful Web notes.Sonically, the album is built around brushy drums, alternately mellifluous and twangy guitar, untreated vocals with what No Depression calls "perfect imperfections," and a languorous, unhurried vibe throughout. The arrangements are notably sparse, relying on micro-dynamics and ambient textures rather than grand crescendos, with Jefferson Public Radio observing that no single instrument dominates — each sound serves the larger picture. Thematically, the record wrestles with the tension between holding onto who you've been and making space for who you're becoming, with songs like "Don't Change a Thing" conveying a sense of acceptance tinged with loss, and "When the Love is New" contrasting the intensity of early romance with the steadiness of long-term partnership. The Sound Cafe described it as "one of the most emotionally complete records of his career — warm, reflective, adventurous, and deeply authentic." Show more