So Alex G announced a new album last week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s all over the internet, but just on the off chance that our silence = apathy, I thought we’d do a quick piece anyway.
I wrote about Alex G last year when DSU came out on Orchid Tapes, where I praised his ability (and that of the other Orchid Tapes alumni) to capture the detachment of young people in contemporary society. Rather than sugar coating the situation and pretending everything is fine, or being completely sad or angry to the point of fruitless nihilism:
“Alex G and his colleagues seem to be doing a bit more. There seems to be an element of positivity, even if that positivity is nothing more than a connection, an appreciation that we are not alone”
Beach Music is Giannascoli’s seventh release, impressive for any 21 year-old, and looks to be his most considered, developed album to date. Whereas the others were written, recorded and uploaded to Bandcamp in a matter of days, Beach Music came into being while Giannascoli was on tour. Without the necessary time for his usual recording process, he was forced into a more drawn out method, where writing was more sporadic and recording came months later.
If ‘Bug’ is anything to go by, the change has been a successful one. Or at least, has made no difference, the track sounding like the music you fell for in the beginning. Falsetto vocals, acoustic strums, electronic drums, even a strange chipmunks-meet-Donald Duck final refrain, major label or not, Alex G is still very much his own man. The lyrics are equally beguiling, reading like a conversation you have fallen into with no introduction, unfolding gradually to reveal the greater meaning:
“he doesn’t know me
no pain for my gain
callin my cellphone
no time for that shame
a yes man
you know i love you back kid
but i skid
i never knew ya
a yes man
you know i got your back kid
but i fib
im flyin through yaand when you go there
you stay there
bug in the crosshair
you stay therea fuck brain
just tryin to get himself paid
but behave
a big pain
but love him all the damn samebug in the crosshair”
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2174382286 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3777681808]
Beach Music will be released on the 9th October by Domino. You can pre-order it now via the Alex G Bandcamp page (although all the good stuff has sold out), or alternatively through the Domino website.
P.S. Our silence does not equal apathy. We are few and the musics are many.