Let’s be honest, the last year and a half has been a total headfuck for pretty much all of us. Many of us have found ourselves scrambling around in search of positives in a world where freedom is continually revoked and disappointment is part of life. One of the few positives to come out of this pandemic is that so many bands have found the time to record some awesome music to help get us through it. One of these bands is Giant Sky who have this week, released their debut Rock album ‘Not Today’ which is definitely one of our positives!
This is a relatively new band formed of Olivia Bond, Toby Mcfee, Jay Amesbury and Jon Hatch, Giant Sky was born after meeting Olivia in 2019. Having been in bands together since their teens, the boys have played music together for years, with Olivia’s vocals and lyricism completing the picture. Having found more time to be creative, the band got to work on a series of demos and through the process, truly honed their sound and found themselves ready to record the full album in March.
Listening to this album, you would never guess that the band has spent most of their time together in lockdown. They have already managed to develop such a unique sound and the album is wonderfully polished.
Kicking in with a heavy bassline and an electric guitar riff, the first song and the album is Rust and you can tell from the intro that these guys mean business! I knew within seconds I was in for a treat with this album!
Featuring some deliciously heavy instrumentals including some blaring drum beats that are perfectly complimented by a softer vocal, my favourite tune on this album is ‘Heroin’. The lyrics in this one are so punchy, they very quickly gets stuck in your head, as does the riff but it’s such an exciting track that I can more than live with that! I’m also a huge fan of Elephant which is another heavy, fast paced track.
The album does have range though, the band have delivered a series of styles and tempos in this LP. They slow it down with the verses ‘Strangers’ which is written to be quite slow and deliberate, almost flirty and the track is fired up towards the end and completely switched up for the outro. I kind of love that it’s a bit unpredictable!
To be honest, I’m trying to write about the stand out tracks on the album but, it’s a pretty strong album as far as I’m concerned. So it’s not an easy one to narrow down. It would definitely appeal to fans of Wolf Alice, I also get hints of influence from Blondie and Paramore yet Giant Sky do have a distinctive sound. It’s safe to say that they have nailed their first album.