Beach Music was the first occasion on which (Sandy) Alex G (Alex Giannascoli) did not write all of the album’s songs in one sharp burst. Instead, he wrote the songs around his touring schedule, the result of which is an eclectic album that oscillates wildly in style, depending on what he was listening to at the time of writing, from Americana-tinged country to deafening noise-rock.
(Sandy) Alex G “Kicker” from ‘Beach Music’, Originally released 2015 on Domino Record Co.
House of Sugar – (Sandy) Alex G’s ninth overall album and his third for Domino – is a highly meticulous, cohesive album: a statement of artistic purpose, showing off his ear for both persistent earworms and sonic adventurism.
At the southern tip of Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood, there’s an imposing structure on the Delaware River that somehow looks equal parts parking garage, hospital and convention center. The building is none of these things, but it’s just as overwhelming as each one of them. It houses Sugar House Casino, a dystopian abyss of colorful images leaping forth from slot machines and laser-bright ceiling lights hovering over card tables where gamblers can earn $150 in blackjack, lose it and swear off gambling forever (which may or may not have happened to this writer). Philly resident (Sandy) Alex G’s newest album, House of Sugar, his third for storied label Domino Recordings (and eighth or ninth overall, depending on who you ask), is named for this casino.
As unsettling as its namesake, the newest record from Alex Giannascoli at times improves on the inscrutable, circuitous experimentation of his Domino debut, Beach Music. At other times, it refines the accessible but still characteristically sauntering country-lite of Rocket, his masterful second album for the British indie label. In other words, House of Sugar sounds like a middle ground between the two albums that preceded it.
“Hope” appears on (Sandy) Alex G’s new album ‘House of Sugar’ – out September 13, 2019 on Domino Recordings.
“Gretel” appears on (Sandy) Alex G’s new album ‘House of Sugar’ – out September 1th3, 2019 on Domino Recordings.
“Southern Sky” appears on (Sandy) Alex G’s new album ‘House of Sugar’ – out September 13, 2019 on Domino Recordings.
House of Sugar, the new album from (Sandy) Alex G. Out September 13th on Domino Record Co.
House of Sugar – (Sandy) Alex G’s ninth overall album and his third for Domino – is a highly meticulous, cohesive album: a statement of artistic purpose, showing off his ear for both persistent earworms and sonic adventurism.
Alex Giannascoli’s new album, House of Sugar, is populated by gamblers, chancers, and conmen — the same spirits that have haunted his work for a decade. Now that (Sandy) Alex G has outgrown his status as indie’s best kept secret, he’s grappling with those demons in public. Alex — the 26-year-old singer, songwriter, bandleader, pitch-shift enthusiast, poet, session guitarist, book-lover, son, friend, brother, boyfriend, and aspiring pool shark better known as (Sandy) Alex G — is in New York for a few days to put some final touches on his new album a collection of haunted-feeling collection of off-kilter Americana.
“Hope” appears on (Sandy) Alex G’s new album ‘House of Sugar’ – out September 13th, 2019 on Domino Recordings.
This week (Sandy) Alex G (aka Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter Alex Giannascoli) announced a new album, “House of Sugar”, and shared a video for its first single, “Gretel.” House of Sugar is due out September 13th via Domino Recordings.
House of Sugar is Giannascoli’s ninth album overall and his third for Domino. It’s the follow-up to 2017’s Rocket. Jacob Portrait, who mixed both Rocket and 2015’s Beach Music, also worked on House of Sugar. Zev Magasis directed the “Gretel” video. Despite the record’s title, the lead single from (Sandy) Alex G’s House of Sugar opens with striking darkness and bitterness before easing into the sweet. In “Gretel,” (Sandy) Alex G weaves two seemingly disparate talents of his — writing beautiful, melodic refrains and creating strange, unsettling soundscapes — into a captivating, fresh take on the Brothers Grimm.
“Gretel” appears on (Sandy) Alex G’s new album ‘House of Sugar’ – out September 13th, 2019 on Domino Recordings.
We loved Rocket, the album (Sandy) Alex G released last year. The prolific singer-songwriter, ”[(Sandy) Alex G] wants to try it all. He’s as interested in mis-shaping a great song as he is perfecting it.” In 2017, (Sandy) Alex G became known for his collaborations with Frank Ocean and for experimenting with a new, twangy country influence. We can’t be sure, but today’s new track “Fay” may be an indication of where he’s headed next.
On “Fay,” (Sandy) Alex G — real name Alex Giannascoli — crafts a lush, soft pop landscape cast in unexpected darkness. “Here they come knockin’ at my door,” he warns, gently mimicking the sound of a police siren. “What’s the problem, Officer? What you knockin’ for?”
(Sandy) Alex G is one of those artists who dumps dozens of lo-fi albums on Bandcamp, but few catch the spotlight the way he has over the last three years — and deservedly so given the musical growth visible on his latest album Rocket, proving those “prodigy” tags slapped on him back then weren’t over-exaggerated hype.
On its surface, Rocket is a vaguely Americana record where he finally sheds Elliott Smith comparisons for those of Cassadaga-era Bright Eyes, but it’s the experimental tracks. On Rocket, he steps past the Elliott Smith comparisons and into an unsuspected combination of beautiful Americana-evoking tunes often fit with strings (“Proud,” “Bobby,” “Powerful Man”) and left-field instrumentals that vary between hardcore freak-outs (“Brick”) and restless, wild fits (“Horse”). What some might find discombobulated is one cohesive vision in the mind of Alex Giannascoli. A guy-next-door songwriter so brilliant and special that Frank Ocean nabbed his talents for both Endless and Blonde, Giannascoli tells tales that aren’t always relatable and might only make sense to him, but still somehow feel like home.
SIDE A 1. Change My Mind (0:01– 2:40) * 2. Kicker (2:39 – 5:28) * 3. New (5:31 – 8:45) 4. Joy (8:49 – 13:30) 5. Child’s Play (13:34 – 15:49) 6. Promise (15:50 – 19:19) 7. Trash (19:25 – 22:08) 8. Trade (22:10 – 23:26) 9. After Ur Gone (23:28 – 25:47) * 10. Mud (25:56 – 27:44) * 11. Mary (27:48 – 31:02) 12. Bug (31:05 – 33:46) 13. Kara (33:47 – 36:49) 14. Clouds (36:52 – 39:14) 15. Salt (39:18 – 43:55) *
SIDE B 16. Soaker (43:59 – 45:37) 17. Sorry (45:39 – 48:20) 18. Nintendo 64 (48:23 – 51:00) 19. Hollow (51:02 – 55:07) * 20. Skating (55:08 – 57:40) ** 21. Memory (57:41 – 1:00:32) * 22. Tie Me Down (The Skin Cells) (1:00:35 – 1:02:58) 23. Scar Tattoo (1:03:01 – 1:06:04) 24. Sarah (1:06:06 – 1:08:57) 25. Snot (1:09:01 – 1:14:00) * 26. Sandy (1:14:03 – 1:16:42) 27. Break (1:16:46 – 1:19:41) ** 28. In Love (1:19:42 – 1:23:11) ** 29. Waiting For You (1:23:15 – 1:26:43) ** 30. Mis (1:26:49 – 1:30:05) ** 31. Change (1:30:06 – 1:32:08) ** 32. Explain (1:32:11 – 1:33:45) 33. Message (1:33:46 – 1:36:30) * 34. Clouds (1:36:32 – 1:38:55) 35. Go Away (1:38:56 – 1:39:55)
Whether the spine says (Sandy) Alex G (or just Alex G), the D.I.Y. Bandcamp legend continues to expand beyond bedroom songwriting and no longer has to worry about listeners getting their hands on physical copies of his records. I think Alex G may actually snore in melodies. Even a cursory listen to Rocket makes one thing abundantly clear: Alex Giannascoli knows his way around a song, maybe even in his sleep. For all the ease with which he slips into a perfect strummer like “Proud”, it’s no less natural for him to shift gears into a sound collage (“Horse”) or an industrial shouter (“Brick”), always patient, letting sounds simmer, and finding striking moments in what for most musicians would just be “dicking around” before, during, or after the “real song.”
Alex G has opened up to find a language that speaks for more than just himself.” Look not further than “Bobby” to understand that praise. There are no tricks here. Soft-stepping strums, violin, and the vocal help of Emily Yacina come together to make this heart-on-a-sleeve, tender duet one of the most relatable songs of the year so far. “Bobby” talks to feelings we all know: depression, guilt, suspicion, and, most movingly, the desire to abandon our hangups, habits, and ruts to be better for someone else. You won’t find a simpler lyric than “I’d leave him (clean it/burn them) for you/ If you want me to,” but it translates to any language with a beating heart.
Multi-instrumentalist Alex Giannascoli, aka Alex G, is gearing up to release a new full-length, Beach Music, on October 9th through new label home Domino. The 13-track effort follows DSU, and serves as his seventh to date. That’s the album artwork above.
Beach Music was recorded in Giannascoli’s apartment over the course of a few months between touring stints with Speedy Ortiz and Cymbals Eat Guitars. Much of the record was shaped by the artists coming to grips with life as a touring musician; a press release explains further:
Songs were written within months of one another rather than all at once, with influences ranging from noise music to piano-based laments to Southern rock to the rhythmic focus of techno—whatever he happened to be most interested in at the time. “Every song is coming from a different place,” he says. “It branches off in all these directions, but it has its own sound. It’s not something I do intentionally, but I’m the common thread.”
Our first look at the new album comes with “Bug”, a dreamy, lo-fi cut
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