Review: Greta Van Fleet Keep Orbiting Bygone Spaces of Rock on ‘Starcatcher’

Greta Van Fleet
Starcatcher
(Lava/Republic Records)
4 out of 5

In 2021, Greta Van Fleet went on a mystical journey to The Battle at Garden’s Gate. There, they landed, three years after the release of their debut Anthem of the Peaceful Army, in another space and time, farming human conditions and revelations, war, peace, a connection to the natural world, and other cosmic and philosophical realms.

Now two years later, the brothers Kiszka—twins Josh (singer) and Jake (guitarist), and bassist Sam—along with drummer Danny Wagner are swept into another arena of rock on their third album, Starcatcher. Produced by Dave Cobb (John Prine, Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile), Starcatcher finds the Michigan rockers still chasing the rush of the stadium and Led Zeppelin dreams through contorted stories.

“Fate of the Faithful” opens up a bluesier portal around the contemplative “Waited All Your Life,” and the transportive stretch along the star-struck “Sacred the Thread” with Josh firing more poetic stanzas I’ve seen it in the stars / To dress up a wound, heal a scar / I’ve caught the wind in a kite of dreams / In a flight of seams / Like freedom sewn.

Mid-way through, quick Townshend-tipped riffs open “Runway Blues,” and squeeze in all the wailing and guitar ripping Fleet can fit in under a minute and a half before returning to the four-plus minute norm run of songs. Coasting along, Starcatcher catches the classic blues rock rumble of “The Archer” and the penultimate prize of “Meeting the Master.”

A psychedelic riser, “Meeting the Master” runs the orbit around mortality—What a day to travel faster / Take my trip around the sun / I have known no other master / He has been the only one and more maddening earthly conditions And I’m taken / By the madness / And the tripping / And the touching before closing on the retro roused “Farewell For Now.”

We have shared with you our stories / Had ourselves a really big time / Fought in battles far from the homeland / Made love, even drank from the wine, says Greta in their Farewell—until the next time.

Take them as they are. Love them or leave them. They’re still unabashedly clicked into late ’60s-early ‘70s bygone rock, and Starcatcher is, indeed, classic Greta Van Fleet.

Photo by Neil Krug / Sacks & Co.