Album Overview: (Sandy) Alex G Attracts in Affected person Listeners on the Mysterious Home of Sugar
The Lowdown: In 2019, we now have extra entry to artists than ever earlier than. Other than the mega-celebrities whose press groups can fastidiously domesticate each phrase, limiting interviewers to shut pals, the previous decade has given us eager perception into the lives of artists – whether or not that’s by means of their Instagram likes or Twitter rants. That social curation has made it uncommon to come back throughout somebody like Alex Giannascoli, who data below the title (Sandy) Alex G, as a result of regardless that he offers occasional interviews and maintains a bare-bones social media presence, the best way he writes from the standpoint of his characters provides an air of real thriller to his music.
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He’s not mysterious in a manner that means a puzzle that must be solved or an identification that’s hid from the world, however in songs that obfuscate that means, even once they’re easy character research. His newest album, Home of Sugar, may be probably the most troublesome to crack but. A track like “Crime” forces the listener contained in the thoughts of a person watching one other executed for against the law that he dedicated, and “Sugarhouse” finds a gambler leaving his household behind and letting his youngsters reckon with the injury he’s achieved. Giannascoli writes these not as wish-fulfillment nor confessionals, however as an acknowledgment that there’s typically not as a lot separation between the actions of listeners and the characters in his songs. Giannascoli will get out of the best way in crafting these character tales, and what you understand or don’t find out about his personal life feels secondary to the that means of his songs, even when they’re not as clear as we might crave.
The Good: There’s one thing inherently damaging about judging whether or not or not an artist’s artistic evolution is linear or suggesting some form of clear path the place they get higher every album till they attain a looming cliff and fall off. Whether or not or not Home of Sugar is Giannascoli’s “finest” report, it’s actually one the place he has managed to faucet into his primal and intuitive nature as a songwriter. Considered one of his finest tracks but, “Hope”, opens with Alex remembering a buddy’s dying from a fentanyl overdose. Then, within the second verse, seeing that buddy seem to him in a dream, the buddy asking, “Are you able to give me somethin’ else to eat?/ Acquired a gap in my chest, I can’t take it anymore/ Put my pillar to the take a look at/ let me relaxation.” Such a haunting picture might carry the album by itself, however alongside moments just like the swooning duet with Emily Yacina on the chorus of “Southern Sky” or the story of a gambler looking for one thing to make him complete on the nice and cozy stay recording of “Sugarhouse”, it makes for one vignette amongst a sequence that collectively make a transparent imaginative and prescient.
What’s fascinating about the best way Giannascoli stands in relation to his influences is that you could hear echoes of different nice songwriters in his work. These echoes level to him crafting his personal legacy greater than merely paying homage. You may hear traces of Daniel Johnston within the tragic but childlike lyrics of “Cow”, Alex Chilton within the slow-moving melancholy swing of “Crime”, early Invoice Callahan within the noisy desperation of “Close to” and “Stroll Away”, and Jason Molina within the heartbroken Americana drawls of “Southern Sky”. Like Chan Marshall or Mark Linkous, Giannascoli’s sparse poetry communicates American life with empathy in the direction of the tragic figures who make up the characters of his songs. This isn’t to say that Giannascoli actively worships any of those artists, however that Home of Sugar establishes him as one of many closest songwriters working in that very same vein right this moment.
The Dangerous: Home of Sugar could also be Giannascoli’s cruelest and uninviting album but, particularly when the album’s midsection finds him withdrawing into insular experimentation. There’s the discordance of “Close to”, the place Giannascoli makes use of results to repeat the final phrase of “All I would like is to be close to you” advert nauseam. On the instrumental “Undertaking 2”, he crafts fragmented electronica items that replicate a powerful affect from final yr’s collaboration with Oneohtrix Level By no means. None of this can be a disadvantage or an surprising flip for the artist, significantly on a track like “Taking”, the place his acquainted, strummed minor chords from DSU construct into pitched-up chiptune vocals which might be close to unintelligible till the monitor ends with Giannascoli singing, “and taking and taking…” leaving no thriller as to its message.
Home of Sugar is a report about being damaged and empty and as a piece of music actualizes these ideas, from the opening track, “Stroll Away”, the place Giannascoli sings, “Sometime I’m gonna stroll away from you” earlier than getting caught in a loop of claiming “Not right this moment,” emphasizing the inescapable elements of being chased by a demon you may’t outrun. This part of the evaluation (“The Dangerous”) could also be mislabeled, as this all serves the aim of fleshing out the conflicted nature of this report, albeit for the one misstep on “Sugar”, the place Giannascoli’s pitch-shifted vocals conflict in opposition to melodramatic keyboards and strings in a manner that lacks the stark perception of the opposite experimental elements.
The Verdict: Although Home of Sugar could be a troublesome report, those that take the time to delve into its layers will probably be handled to a chunk that captures the trendy psyche in a manner few different items of artwork handle to do. Whether or not it’s the daring and nonetheless somehow-wracked-with-self-doubt proclamation of “No one’s gonna push me off monitor” on “Gretel” or how the road “You recognize good music makes me wanna do dangerous issues” from “In My Arms” by no means sounds fairly the identical with every pay attention, Giannascoli presents a myriad of interpretations for his songs. By the point you get to the Boss-like saxophone solo on “Sugarhouse”, a second that ought to really feel triumphant is as a substitute daunting and unsure.
Information aren’t at all times meant to make you are feeling a sure manner every time, to go down easily with a message wrapped up in a bow. We don’t have to know Giannascoli’s intentions completely to understand the influence of his songs. Like going to a member of the family’s home you haven’t been to in a decade and noticing how your reminiscences don’t line up with actuality however perceiving the little issues that stick out, listening to Home of Sugar is acquainted but unusual, welcoming however solely at a distance, one thing that pulls you in and attracts you away on the identical time.
Important Tracks: “Hope”, “Gretel”, “Crime”, and “Sugarhouse (Stay)”