Lockdown has taught us a lot about ourselves and afforded many the opportunity to see things from a new perspective. For the UK trio Sweet Giant, the halting of society and normality gave way to great clarity, and the musicians discovered what it meant to be authentic and self-sufficient. Let’s dive into the fruits of their lockdown labour with the gorgeous new EP ‘Til You’re Blue’.
Til You’re Blue
Serving as the opening chapter of the Americana-Esque EP, we were first introduced to ‘Til You’re Blue’ a few months ago. The introductory single sets a friendly, road-trip atmosphere; picture yourself jumping into the car, blissfully riding into the oncoming storm. There’s something that feels a little wonky with ‘Til You’re Blue’, while it gives off this road-trip, journeys beginning kind of sense, it doesn’t have an immediate relaxing nature about it. It may be the combination of bluesy chords and drifting melodies, but ‘Til You’re Blue’ has a distinct labourous feel to it; essentially, you should absolutely have this on in the background while you chop some wood.
My Bones
The second track on the London band’s EP, ‘My Bones’, has a fairly different tone to the Americana sound of the title track. The slight distortion on Annie’s lead vocal in ‘My Bones’ grounds the track in a wash of 90’s grunge. There isn’t anything overpowering the mix in any way, and I especially appreciate the restraint in the bassier guitar part towards the end. It feels like there is a strong overall balance in the instrumentation, which in turn allows the vocals and lyrics to take a strong centre stage. This track would fit seamlessly into the soundtrack of some 90’s/00’s teenage drama like Skins.
Out To Nowhere
‘Out To Nowhere’ enters with a sweeter essence; a ‘kiss de girl’ kind of drum groove and guitar strums that feel kind of friendly and approachable. I adore the explosion in the vocals at the chorus in this track, it feels so openly joyful, like yelling out the window that you’re in love. The drive of the guitar really propels this track with an infectious momentum that builds and builds beautifully towards the choral finish. I can imagine the live version of this song going for 12 minutes, building forever before launching dramatically into outer space
Back On Time
Closing the EP is the very sway-able finishing number ‘Back On Time’. Right off the bat, the chorus in this song has an immediate unifying sense, it’s the kind of melody that you can sing along to straight away. If there was ever a song that could slip unnoticed onto a Fleetwood Mac album, it’s ‘Back On Time’. The classic 70’s swaying-in-the-wind feeling is undeniable as the EP comes to a close, which comes as a beautiful sentiment to finish up the project.
The lockdown inspired and developed EP has a lot of introspection and moments of personal exploration in its veins, but never comes to a point that feels like a weight on the listeners shoulders. A lot of lockdown projects can give off a sense of wallowing and doubt, but this project really feels like a tapestry of the friendship the trio created during the time of isolation. Hopefully, it doesn’t take another pandemic for the next project from Sweet Giant.
Check out Sweet Giant on Spotify and connect with them on Instagram
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