Some albums become a lesson in not choosing your “best of” list too early. I’ve learned over the years to wait until the following year to make any real decisions. It’s December now, and some have already written off the month, but along comes Giantsky with a new album, lovingly dubbed Giantsky II, and it is releasing today, December 1st. This work of art deserves a space on every year-end list.
Giantsky is the solo brainchild of Erlend Aastad Viken, whom you might know as the vocalist and keyboardist for the band Soup. He handles vocals, keys, synth, banjo, piano, percussion, and effects. He brings along various friends to handle flute, strings, church organs, drums, and guitars. There’s a long list of names attached to this album, and this feels appropriate because of how spacious the album is.
If you know the band Soup, you know the basic gist of Erlend’s music. However, Giantsky has some differences. This is progressive rock with deep influences from shoegaze, alternative rock, film score, and psychedelia. The music is toweringly beautiful, soaring as if through space to the edge of the universe itself. Delicate melodies hover on the fringes of reality here, angelic vocals and distorted crescendos breathe personality and character into the sound. You’ll hear plenty of that delicious Soup bass and groove, but there is so much more here, too.
Erlend loves post-production effects and filters, but sometimes I find such things detract from the experience. On this record, however, Erlend maintains a perfect balance, utilizing effects that add life and color and vibrancy without harming the purity of the melodies. His hand is deft and mature here, and so every piece feels purposeful and shot with the utmost planning, like an auditory cinematography.
I need to step back for a moment, though, to talk about the keys on this album. Erlend’s synth, keys, and piano are fantastical and beautiful, ranging from skilled melodies to searing synth lines to hovering grace. Some of the best moments of this album are Erlend’s keyboard genius. Guest Vegard Bjerkan is a major player, too, with his riveting church organ pieces; they play such a gorgeous and haunting part to some of this album.
Like the first Giantsky album, II takes a few listens, but it has so much to offer and so many hidden treasures to find. It has thirteen tracks, and there are highlights all over the place. In the first seven tracks, my favorites are the opener “Origin of Species”, which is basically a cinematic synth introduction, but it is so magnificently characterized and distorted in the exact right ways; “Imposter”, which continues from the opener with a brash sort of rock song that is soulful and contains an excellent guitar solo, of all things; and then “Speak Through Walls”, one of the best tracks on the album. That song is immersed in delightful piano and an emotional vocal performance from Hanne Mjøen and Erlend, and the layers of vocals and melody and sheer cinematic weight bring me to tears. What a song!!!
The first half is truly a wonder. I should also mention the instrumental “Space Farrier”, a grooving little rock track with terrific guitar and effective electronic accents. “The Present” follows with a few minutes of celestial atmosphere and a voiceover about connecting with the earth, which is stunning in its own way for how it takes us to the skies in order to point out the ground beneath our feet. “To the Pensieve” and “Dispatch of the Species” end the first half with an elegant and peaceful vocal track, and then a blissful and beautiful piece of church organ, not unlike “Audion” on Soup’s Remedies album, and yet this one is so spacious and freeing and universal.
The second half contains some of the best moments of the album, even after all that we have seen and heard. “Curbing Lights” and “I Am the Night” start us off with a crazy and colorful intro that sweeps and twists and curls with light, but then continues with a 10-minute work full of transitions, ambient portions, fascinating song structure, and pure bliss at times. I love how it works itself into a vocal frenzy at times, but also contains moments of deep spatial wonder. This leads into another favorite, “Birds with Borders”, a slow burning piece that begins as a rhythmic, acoustic sort of song, before exploding with power and percussion. I like how it fades away to nothing at the end.
The last three tracks are so good. “Tables Turn” and “King in Yellow” go together in my mind, one being the counterpoint to the other. “Tables Turn” is a frenzied wall of melody and guitar that is like the spilling of the painter’s palette; there are so many emotions and sounds and tones. “King in Yellow” takes that beautiful chaos, and offers peace, tranquility, and purity in its keyboard lines. It’s like relief and transition.
And that transition is to prepare us for my favorite song on the album, the closer “Seeds”. With a soft march and wholesome vocals, this track leads us by the hand into something extraordinary, into something beyond. The quivering melody that arises in the second makes me cry, without a doubt, and makes me feel, I don’t know, complete? Hopeful? Like this story is only the beginning of something astonishing? As the album ends, you just want to hear it again right away.
Erlend is certainly not suffering from any lack of inspiration. Giantsky II is a glorious and developed work of art that will lift your heart and your life on high. It will whisper promises of connection and peace to your spirit, and warm your mind with its striking and courageous aura. I love this album so much, and I hope it can find the right people and the right ears.
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Find Giantsky online:
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The PROG Mind 