Latest news with #AlexGiannascoli
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alex G's ‘Headlights' Is a Low-Key Gem in a Catalog Full of 'Em
Hitting play on a new Alex G album can feel a little bit like that sequence in Alan Moore's Watchmen comics where Doctor Manhattan sits on a rock on Mars, pondering the nature of time. It's 2014. I'm listening to an oddly moving song that Alex G recorded by himself in a small room in Philadelphia… It's 2019. I'm listening to an oddly moving song that Alex G recorded by himself in a slightly bigger room in Philadelphia… It's 2022. I'm listening to an oddly moving song that Alex G recorded by himself in yet another room in yet another part of Philadelphia… It's 2025. That brings us to Headlights, the indie-rock hero's tenth album, and his first for RCA Records. There was a time — let's call it the Nineties — when an artist like Alex Giannascoli signing to a major label would have felt like a seismic shift, complete with passionate arguments both pro and con in photocopied zines across the land. But that world is long gone, thanks in part to the revolution that Giannascoli and his generation of DIY auteurs led in the 2010s. He was one of the first and finest acts to break through to a national audience by posting his home-recorded music straight to Bandcamp starting in his teens. By the time publications like Rolling Stone began writing about him, he was already four years and several albums deep into a catalog full of low-key profundity. More from Rolling Stone Alex G Announces New Album 'Headlights,' Shares First Track, 'Afterlife' Alex G Unveils 2025 North American Tour Dates Jack White, Cigarettes After Sex, Alex G Lead Desert Daze 2024 He hasn't veered far from that course in the decade-plus since then, and why should he? His tried-and-true methods haven't stopped yielding uncannily compelling results, no matter the size of the label releasing them. Find a seat on that Martian landscape and pop on some headphones for Headlights, and you'll be greeted by the chiming chords and quiet wisdom of 'June Guitar.' 'Love ain't for the young, anyhow/Something that you learn from falling down,' Giannascoli sings in one of many choruses you'll find echoing through your gauziest daydreams for years to come. He's the only musician credited on that song — playing acoustic guitar, bass, drums, and what sounds like a harmonium, with longtime co-producer Jacob Portrait behind the boards — and his ability to create a sound this magical and lived-in that way remains remarkable, like whole histories of folk and rock music are expressing themselves through this one chill guy. His live bandmates have even less presence on this album than usual, appearing on just one track, the energetic closing singalong 'Logan Hotel (Live)' (which he has admitted is 'basically a studio song' despite that subtitle). Otherwise, this is Alex being Alex. There's some back-porch strumming, some ambiguous yet powerful imagery, and an occasional splash of vocal processing, all presented with an appealing, off-the-cuff looseness. On the casually tuneful 'Real Thing,' he opens with a couple of verses that sound like honest reflections of his (or someone's) life — 'Hoping I can make it through to April/On whatever's left of all this label cash' — before lapsing into a wordless coda. On 'Is It Still You in There?' he lets a trio of guest singers including Molly Germer, his partner of many years, deliver his words of eerie self-interrogation: 'Has your wish come true?/Is there nothing left between the world and you?' And despite those hints of doubt elsewhere on the record, songs like the warm, nostalgic 'Oranges' and the bright, bluegrass-tinged 'Afterlife' are up there with his most life-affirming exaltations. The bottom line is the same as it's always been: You either find this stuff brilliant or you don't. The number of people who do now includes enough true believers to fill many large theaters, as well as celebrity fans like Halsey and Frank Ocean (both of whom have tapped him as a session guitarist, as he's no doubt tired of being asked about in interviews). Alex G's cult audience has never been bigger or more welcoming. Whether you've been riding with him for years or you're thinking of joining up today, Headlights is an album that won't make you regret that choice. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked Solve the daily Crossword
Hamilton Spectator
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Music Review: Cult hero Alex G's ‘Headlights' is an introspective meditation on fame
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fame is a double-edge sword. Though it comes with obvious perks — money, opportunity, praise — it can also prompt a kind of existential reckoning. Now what? Is this all there is? Am I changed because of it and, if so, for better or for worse? This is the kind of wrestling Alex Giannascoli, better known as the influential indie rocker Alex G, performs on 'Headlights,' his 10th album and first on a major label. 'Has your wish come true?' he asks, perhaps of himself, on the aptly titled 'Is It Still You In There?' Although Giannascoli achieved quiet success early in his career — collaborating with Frank Ocean on his critically acclaimed 2016 album 'Blonde ' and joining the R&B superstar on tour — Giannascoli has, until recently, been more frequently labeled a cult indie figure than a household name. But the 32-year-old has risen to prominence in recent years, particularly after his 2022 album, 'God Save the Animals,' which marked a distinct shift from his austere, lo-fi sound to more robust production and instrumentation. He has since collaborated with the pop star Halsey on her latest record and scored filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's A24 horror hit, 'I Saw the TV Glow.' That trajectory informs Giannascoli's contemplative poignancy on 'Headlights,' releasing Friday. 'Some things I do for love / Some things I do for money / It ain't like I don't want it / It ain't like I'm above it,' he admits on the 'Beam Me Up,' his whirring guitars strumming mesmerizingly against airy background vocals. Many of his lyrics here, like in the past, are poetically inscrutable. But there are also moments of explicit frankness about ambition, self-doubt, transition and success. 'Hoping I can make it through to April / On whatever's left of all this label cash / No I never thought I was the real thing,' he croons on 'Real Thing,' as a pan flute synthesizer whistles underneath him. With 'Headlights,' Giannascoli continues further down his 'God Save the Animals' sonic pivot to higher fidelity — perhaps to be expected on an album coming from a major label like RCA Records — recording in studios in lieu of his home for a more ornate sound. Think dreamy synths and reverb-soaked riffs. Subdued lyrics and a distorted guitar solo almost turn 'Louisiana' into a shoegaze track. 'Louisiana / Wild and Free / The only one who wanted me,' he repeats with distorted vocals. If there is a central message to 'Headlights,' it appears on the song 'Bounce Boy.' 'I'm up in the clouds and I pray,' he sings with pitched-up vocals, one of his signature effects. 'Say goodbye / To the life / That you knew for so long.' For better or for worse, there is no turning back.
Wall Street Journal
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Headlights' by Alex G Review: Staying True to His Sound
In 2012, Philadelphia singer-songwriter Alex Giannascoli, who performs as Alex G, uploaded an album called 'Trick' to Bandcamp. Though he was just 19 years old, it was actually his fourth self-released LP, and it became something of a cult classic—one that, by streaming standards, can fairly be called a 'hit,' with several songs that have accrued hundreds of millions of plays on Spotify. He's now famous, in a way, for a certain audience: If you are under 35 and enjoy indie rock, Alex G is close to a household name; if you are over 50 and not particularly invested in new music, you may not have heard of him. Today's media fragmentation allows artists to build large followings without broad mainstream recognition. There's an inherent contrast in Alex G's music. As a teenager, he was obsessed with the work of Elliott Smith, and his breezy tunefulness and fondness for acoustic guitar still carry some of that influence. But Mr. Giannascoli is no throwback. He has an ear for the perfect chord change and knows how to tweak a melody for maximum heartbreak, but his music feels of and for the internet. He often bends and filters elements including his voice into weird shapes, and his album covers speak the visual language of videogames and memes. The songwriter's 10th studio LP and major-label debut, 'Headlights' (RCA), out Friday, is notable for how little it seems designed for wider acceptance. Some tracks capture his playing and singing a little more clearly, but it has all the immediacy and eccentricity that have carried him this far. That said, if heard in the background, the early stretch of 'Headlights' scans at first like Mr. Giannascoli has sanded off some of the edges. The opening 'June Guitar' is a stately acoustic ballad, and Mr. Giannascoli has rarely sung so plainly, with so little processing on his voice. The song's characteristic lyrics touch on personal epiphanies and the lost innocence of childhood—one moment he's at the 'end of my rope,' the next he's looking for a girl to swing on it with him. The following 'Real Thing' has a hushed, countrified arrangement as the singer meditates on authenticity, throwing in details that could come only from a young musician signed to a record deal ('Hoping I can make it through to April / On whatever's left of all this label cash'). And 'Afterlife' is a twangy exploration of what heaven might be all about that moves among fragmented images—a kid running in the grass, an overpowering light—like a Terrence Malick film.
San Francisco Chronicle
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Music Review: Cult hero Alex G's 'Headlights' is an introspective meditation on fame
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fame is a double-edge sword. Though it comes with obvious perks — money, opportunity, praise — it can also prompt a kind of existential reckoning. Now what? Is this all there is? Am I changed because of it and, if so, for better or for worse? This is the kind of wrestling Alex Giannascoli, better known as the influential indie rocker Alex G, performs on 'Headlights,' his 10th album and first on a major label. 'Has your wish come true?' he asks, perhaps of himself, on the aptly titled 'Is It Still You In There?' Although Giannascoli achieved quiet success early in his career — collaborating with Frank Ocean on his critically acclaimed 2016 album 'Blonde ' and joining the R&B superstar on tour — Giannascoli has, until recently, been more frequently labeled a cult indie figure than a household name. But the 32-year-old has risen to prominence in recent years, particularly after his 2022 album, 'God Save the Animals,' which marked a distinct shift from his austere, lo-fi sound to more robust production and instrumentation. He has since collaborated with the pop star Halsey on her latest record and scored filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's A24 horror hit, 'I Saw the TV Glow.' That trajectory informs Giannascoli's contemplative poignancy on 'Headlights,' releasing Friday. 'Some things I do for love / Some things I do for money / It ain't like I don't want it / It ain't like I'm above it,' he admits on the 'Beam Me Up,' his whirring guitars strumming mesmerizingly against airy background vocals. Many of his lyrics here, like in the past, are poetically inscrutable. But there are also moments of explicit frankness about ambition, self-doubt, transition and success. 'Hoping I can make it through to April / On whatever's left of all this label cash / No I never thought I was the real thing,' he croons on 'Real Thing,' as a pan flute synthesizer whistles underneath him. With 'Headlights,' Giannascoli continues further down his 'God Save the Animals' sonic pivot to higher fidelity — perhaps to be expected on an album coming from a major label like RCA Records — recording in studios in lieu of his home for a more ornate sound. Think dreamy synths and reverb-soaked riffs. Subdued lyrics and a distorted guitar solo almost turn 'Louisiana' into a shoegaze track. 'Louisiana / Wild and Free / The only one who wanted me,' he repeats with distorted vocals. If there is a central message to 'Headlights,' it appears on the song 'Bounce Boy.' 'I'm up in the clouds and I pray,' he sings with pitched-up vocals, one of his signature effects. 'Say goodbye / To the life / That you knew for so long.' For better or for worse, there is no turning back.
Winnipeg Free Press
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Music Review: Cult hero Alex G's ‘Headlights' is an introspective meditation on fame
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fame is a double-edge sword. Though it comes with obvious perks — money, opportunity, praise — it can also prompt a kind of existential reckoning. Now what? Is this all there is? Am I changed because of it and, if so, for better or for worse? This is the kind of wrestling Alex Giannascoli, better known as the influential indie rocker Alex G, performs on 'Headlights,' his 10th album and first on a major label. 'Has your wish come true?' he asks, perhaps of himself, on the aptly titled 'Is It Still You In There?' Although Giannascoli achieved quiet success early in his career — collaborating with Frank Ocean on his critically acclaimed 2016 album 'Blonde ' and joining the R&B superstar on tour — Giannascoli has, until recently, been more frequently labeled a cult indie figure than a household name. But the 32-year-old has risen to prominence in recent years, particularly after his 2022 album, 'God Save the Animals,' which marked a distinct shift from his austere, lo-fi sound to more robust production and instrumentation. He has since collaborated with the pop star Halsey on her latest record and scored filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's A24 horror hit, 'I Saw the TV Glow.' That trajectory informs Giannascoli's contemplative poignancy on 'Headlights,' releasing Friday. 'Some things I do for love / Some things I do for money / It ain't like I don't want it / It ain't like I'm above it,' he admits on the 'Beam Me Up,' his whirring guitars strumming mesmerizingly against airy background vocals. Many of his lyrics here, like in the past, are poetically inscrutable. But there are also moments of explicit frankness about ambition, self-doubt, transition and success. 'Hoping I can make it through to April / On whatever's left of all this label cash / No I never thought I was the real thing,' he croons on 'Real Thing,' as a pan flute synthesizer whistles underneath him. With 'Headlights,' Giannascoli continues further down his 'God Save the Animals' sonic pivot to higher fidelity — perhaps to be expected on an album coming from a major label like RCA Records — recording in studios in lieu of his home for a more ornate sound. Think dreamy synths and reverb-soaked riffs. Subdued lyrics and a distorted guitar solo almost turn 'Louisiana' into a shoegaze track. 'Louisiana / Wild and Free / The only one who wanted me,' he repeats with distorted vocals. If there is a central message to 'Headlights,' it appears on the song 'Bounce Boy.' 'I'm up in the clouds and I pray,' he sings with pitched-up vocals, one of his signature effects. 'Say goodbye / To the life / That you knew for so long.' For better or for worse, there is no turning back.
