Giantess/The Battles
So those two most recent New Pornographers albums just didn’t hit the spot, did they? You want pop perfection for the now generation, not something that merely goes along nicely with a Volvo and an issue of Paste magazine. Let me tell you about a band named Giantess.
Giantess used to be known as The Battles. Stephen Wood of Vancouver was the main dude in the band, but members of Destroyer, Black Mountain and (yes) the New Pornographers were members at some point. They put out an amazing album called Tomorrow’s Eager Hands in 2006 that gets my vote for Most Slept On Classic of 2006. All the songs are flawless pop gems that are given room to breathe and develop. The hand you hook; they don’t hit you over the head with it. This is like what the Shins would sound like if they were really into Soft Machine.
But then math-rock band Battles got really big, so they changed their name to Giantess. They have a self-titled album coming out soon on Soft Abuse. “Saturday Night” is the track Soft Abuse has on their website right now and the band did more than just change their name. It’s less restrained than the Battles and has a strong glam rock influence. It’s really nice, and still has that spacey goodness that filled Battles songs. What’s not nice is the album cover.
Barf. Looks like the album cover of some shitty local band that just threw their artwork together in photoshop. I don’t know what they’re thinking as Tomorrow’s Eager Hands had an awesome cover.
The Battles - Omega Man (from Tomorrow’s Eager Hands)
Giantess - Saturday Night (from Giantess)
