Implying a beguiling blend of paradox and wonder – a circumference of over two thousand miles appearing fingernail thin from Earth – the title Little Moon handily encapsulates the tiny triumph that is Grant-Lee Phillips’ new album. Uncluttered but undeniably powerful, briskly recorded but a lifetime in the making, Little Moon finds Phillips letting go of his inhibitions and his ego just as he approaches the pinnacle of his abilities as a songwriter, vocalist, and bandleader. “Because I so often find myself alone with a guitar, be it at home, on stage, in a hotel,” he reflects, “I’ve become more and more comfortable stripping away a lot of the artifice that comes with making a record. My albums are becoming more stark, more unguarded, and more vulnerable. This is the most unselfconscious record I have made – ever.”