On its new single “Packrat,” Philadelphia’s Grocer sounds like it has perhaps been revisiting some neglected 90s rock with it’s gigantic, melodic hooks and buoyant vocals. But like a lot of the music of that era, it’s simply emotionally raw and honest except Grocer has delivered one of the most accurate portraits of anxiety and psychological paralysis of recent times. Its snippets about the dissociative behaviors one often exhibits when your brain gets stuck on some detail rather than moving on as some odd act of delusional micro control over something rather than let it all potentially unravel along with your sense of self. The title of the song points out to one of those controlling tendencies that also give the illusion of control and maintaining. Many of us have been in those moments here and there in the past couple of decades as more and more is demanded in everyday life with increasingly little given in return for our moments, energy and dedication. The line “I’ll survive off anything/Before I live in the moment” is a painfully amusing summary of life in late capitalism and being in survival mode so often that you have to ignore that thriving isn’t often on the table nearly enough for much of anyone that isn’t already rich and even for those people that pressure on everyone else trickles up in ways the world only started to try to address with the early pandemic. But the song itself sounds like a cathartic and playful send up of those gnarled and desperate feelings channeled off into bursts of cognitive dissonance and dysfunction readily recognizable by anyone honest about the state of things. Listen to “Packrat” on Spotify and follow Grocer at the links below. Expect the group’s new album Bless Me out April 19, 2024 on digital, vinyl and CD.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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