Lowell, MA duo Giant In The Lighthouse formed as something of a reaction against the prevailing mood in New England music. Then playing in different bands, Peggy and Adrian united over the shared desire to do something different. “We wanted our band to be the antithesis of what we saw in the scene at the time,” Peggy explained. “We were so sick of the ironic apathy. We wanted to have fun and care about something.”
Forthcoming EP Waving represents the band’s first proper release, and acts as something of a mission statement for the pair. “We want our music to feel childlike without being childish,” they say. “We want to be warm and soft but big and visceral.” While their sound veers between delicate intimacy and cathartic crescendos, it is this commitment to earnestness that marks the Giant In The Lighthouse sound.
Ahead of the EP’s release, the band has unveiled lead single ‘Sprinting’ to show a glimpse of what is to come. Carved out of nostalgia for simpler times, the track homes in on childhood as a forgotten ideal, where the biggest concern was the unwelcome call for dinner when there was still fun to be had outdoors.
Still, far from idle daydreaming, the track serves a higher purpose too. For amid the memories of baseball cards and skinned knees lies a serious sentiment, childhood standing in for the wish to live a more curious, simple life in the present. What if we don’t have to lose our sense of wonder and joy, Giant In The Lighthouse seems to ask. What if we do not have to betray ourselves so easily?
Photo by Olivia Edvalson