We last featured Trust Fall, the Olympia WA band led by Erica (of Margy Pepper, Pines, Tankini & Aqua Aura), back in 2016, when we described their album Boundless and Unafraid as, “something that whispers and speaks and shouts, utilising loud and quiet and the blank spaces between each.” Now the band are back with a new album, Giants of Love, and they sound better than ever.
Label Reflective Tapes call the album “tender, folk-inflected indie rock,” which sounds pretty accurate to me, something like introspective bedroom pop meets pop punk (e.g. Girlpool or joyride!) and 90s indie rock. Opener ‘wild fire/flowers’, which first appeared on Boundless and Unafraid, begins with an acapella intro before morphing into chugging indie rock, whipping up into a maelstrom of guitar and smacked drums. Although the song has been updated since it’s last appearance, our description still holds true. “The song is a good introduction to Trust Fall’s aesthetic,” Jon wrote in his review, “the gentle bedroom folk littered with small moments that threaten to be less gentle, the lyrics wrapped in imagery of the natural world, reassuring and timeless yet also volatile, too large to control.” And follow-up ‘brightest star’ doesn’t rein things in any, its big rolling almost post-rock drums crashing against squalling guitar and expressive vocals.
“Why is life so full of fucking ups and downs?”
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‘do it right’ feels lean and focused, two and a half minutes of emotive power pop, complete with a cathartic chorus of “I can feel your love slip from my grip / I think I’m going to be sick.” It’s this balance between tender emotion and an excited pop punk rush that defines the album, the noisy defiant moments serving to paint even the saddest sentiments with a sense of strength, the hope that things will work out and we’ll be strong enough to get by. ‘better off now’ is another good example of this. The song is one of Trust Falls’ slower and quieter numbers, but, as the title suggests, rather than being a complete bummer, the narrator delivers her lines with the feeling that they’re going to be okay.
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Finale ‘dirt roads’ skillfully pulls off the loud/quiet dynamic, hushed intimate periods occasionally erupting in pummeling guitar and clattering drums, the vocals rising to a yell to be heard above the din. It’s a fitting end to the album, perfectly capturing what’s come before.
You can get Giants of Love on cassette tape via Reflective Tapes Bandcamp page, and as a name-your-price download from the Trust Fall Bandcamp page.