Jack Grisham and the Life Undone’s “Anthem” earns its title within a debut album that gives Jack Grisham room to move beyond the expectations attached to his past. The track is described as one of the record’s most anthemic moments, surrounded by propulsive rockers, ballads, acoustic Americana, and alt-rock singalongs. Its place on the album suggests a song built for voices to meet in the same room, even though Grisham recorded from Huntington Beach and Lars Triesch from Berlin.
The project began with an accidental meeting between Grisham and Triesch at the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. Triesch proposed making a record, and the two built the album across continents, with Kurt Ebelhäuser producing and additional work taking place in Los Angeles. That distance matters less than the fact that the collaboration exists at all. Grisham brings more than four decades of music behind him, while Triesch returned to music after years away from the circuit.
“Anthem” sits inside a record called Jack Grisham and the Life Undone, a title Jack gives two meanings: taking life apart to examine it, and recognizing that life is still unfinished. The song occupies the second possibility well. An anthem does not need to close the book. It needs enough room for other voices to join in.
