Description
Label Review.
2017 album.
Our Overview.
The prolific Philadelphia singer-songwriter Alex Giannascoli, stage name Alex G, is changing that to (Sandy) Alex G ahead of his new album release ‘Rocket’ (The official statement: “Going forward, Alex G will be known as (Sandy) Alex G. We are unable to provide further comment at this time, but would appreciate you using the new titling for all future mentions.”).
This album will be the eighth full-length release, from the lo-fi indie pop artist and is an assured statement that follows a slate of humble masterpieces, many of them self-recorded and self-released, stretching from 2010’s ‘RACE’ to his 2015 Domino debut, ‘Beach Music’.
Amid the Rocket recording process, Alex made headlines for catching the attention of Frank Ocean, who asked him to play guitar on his two 2016 albums, Endless and Blonde. More than any stylistic cues, what Alex took from the experience was a newfound confidence in collaboration. ‘Rocket’ wears this collaborative spirit proudly, and in its numerous contributors presents a restless sense of musical experimentation – effortlessly jumping from distorted sound collage to dreamy folk music to bouncing Americana.
‘Rocket’ illustrates a cohesive vision of contemporary American experience; the cast of characters that Alex G inhabits have fun, fall in love, develop obsessions, get in trouble, and—much like rockets themselves—ultimately they burn out. Alex, though, in a collection of songs that’s both his tightest and most adventurous, is poised only for the ascent.
The album was mixed by Jacob Portrait (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Bass Drum of Death), who also lent his hand to Beach Music, giving the album a fine-tuning that retains the homespun personality of earlier efforts.