Slow and Steady Doesn't Win This Race
Giantess delivers an energetic album that gets knocked down by a few slow tracks.
Giantess
Giantess
Released on Nov 30, -0001
The band Giantess, formerly known as The Battles (no, not the dudes that play “Atlas? with the crazy drums and high pitched voice), are based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, and as a music outfit have been around for 10 years. Stephen Wood first started making music in 1997, and since then his band (in various forms and names) have included artist such bands as Destroyer and New Pornographers.
Giantess has been around the block for a long time in the world of music, and it shows both positively and negatively on their self-titled album, out now on Soft Abuse Records. At their best, upbeat songs like "Seven Years" are catchy and rollicking in their demeanor - even songs like stand out track "Flex of Green" blend hard and driven melodies while still retaining a softer edge to their sound.
The band really turned me off with their ballads. Giantess sound very ragged when they slow things down; losing the gritty energy of driving drums and warbled vocals that I love so much on faster tracks. Slow, Giantess just sound a band on the edge of calling the whole thing off. But when they are fiercely banging out hard drum beats and flippantly yelping tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the band is dead on.
One other word of advice; skip the last track, "Snack Bite." I appreciate synth and distortion just as much as the next music nerd; but paired with cheesy lyrics like "your vernacular is just spectacular," the whole shtick just rubs me the wrong way. An "A" for effort on trying a different sound, but Giantess - stick to the driving drum and guitar sound you do so well.
High Point
Low Point
Posted by Lisa White on Oct 18, 2007 @ 12:00 am