GIANT SKY II

2nd double album.

CD1: "Origin Of The Species (Part 1-6)" solemn symphonic space opener launching "Imposter" with their characteristic, cold, moving, bucolic sound; hold an organ with Marina one of the 3 female voices; one-shot post- rock explosion with thunderous screams reminiscent of SIGUR ROS, for those who only know SOUP; aerial atmosphere for a typical intoxicating and psychedelic solo. "Speak Through Walls" with Hanne and Charlotte on vocals over a minimalist guitar arpeggio; flute of ancient times yes on the Archangel; a melancholic symphonic orchestral variation... of great beauty with tearful violins before the psyche break of the 2030s, maddening cinematic vibrating guitar; Erlend shouts, dark for a Dantesque finale. "Space Farrier" arpeggiates over creation, no less; flute, piano by Ivan and Jonas, synths on Jean-Michel JARRE; well we're going to put on our well-shod boots to wander through the cosmos, an interlude as only Erlend knows how to do, fresh and beautiful in the end who sends "The Present" to settle down from this grandiose escapade; still hovering and a voice-over in the distance. "To The Pensieve" piano and monolithic voice for the seemingly basic title; yes but a few moments later we find ourselves on the rings of a planet spinning at full speed, that's what GIANT SKY is beautiful, astonishing, musically progressive in the firmament. "Dispatch of Species" comes in for the finale with a church organ.

CD2: "Curbing Lights" intro to the second album on a cinematic background, video games, quite rhythmic, still electronic, less intimate, like an opening for "I Am The Night" facsimile of 'Space Farrier' at the start; most of all this musical fluidity on these angelic female voices, sirens from another time; and then there is a climb, one more but on another slope and Nirvana is there in front of you; this crescendic musical explosion makes you melt; the break with metronomic bass brings you back to earth before a surge of Olympian violins makes you shiver, bells, unstructured waves which form a major title with inverted voices. "Birds With Borders" for an intimate melancholy melody, the one you want to keep to yourself; strings, a flute and the schizoid rise made of noises which collide and create the melody, the voices forward guided by the notes; the flute guides you to your left cerebellum the one who thinks that this album is already exceptional. "Tables Turn" with Hans as the sole male voice over a playful dreamlike mid-tempo; the electro-ambient and latent mid-term break on a psychedelic PINK FLOYD, Erlend with his voice which blends with that of Jón from SIGUR ROS, perfection is there; the vibrant ultra-bass outro. "King In Yellow" with this sound of Megaptera and other deities who will save our planet, go review Star Trek; instrumental track torturing your mind, yes GIANT SKY is beyond music. "Seeds" as a Wallian finale, after the crash against the wall; a spatial, cinematic ballad, about an apocalyptic New York 1997 from which the world will not recover, about a new world having understood which side to be on so as not to fall from the branch, choose.

This Norwegian band of newcomers' debut release in 2021 was one of my top 5 favorite albums for that year. Led by SOUP founder/leader, Erlend Aastad Viken, they return with more of the same sound--69 minutes of it--on this, their sophomore release.

CD1: 1. "Origin Of The Species (Part 1-6)" (2:19) a little murky even if it is supposed to represent God's first six days of Creation. (4/5)

2. "Imposter" (4:23) strumming acoustic guitars and unfiltered snare hits give the start of this one a MOTORPSYCHO/THE AMAZING feel. The presence of Marina Skanche's female vocals in the "B" part is nice--a nice counterbalance to the fuzzy-frenzied "A" part. Interesting. But feeling rushed or unfinished. (8.75/10)

3. "Speak Through Walls" (7:21) two female vocalists presenting a psych folk front. This is nice in a Damon Waitkus or Hands Of The Heron way. Room-miked upright piano takes over in the third minute with flutes and tuned percussives helping out (no vocals). At 3:20 female vocals rejoin as church organ bass pedals accompany. Violins supplant vocals in fifth minute before pulsing scratchy guitar, drum and bass rhythm tracks take over. Does Erlend consciously intend for the sound quality of these songs to be so scratchy and murky? If so, very weird. Near-screaming male vocal enters in the seventh minute to make some point to the song's rather abrupt finish. Nice first half; disappointing second. (13.25/15)

4. "Space Farrier" (6:08) a kind of space-techno neo-electronic instrumental reminiscent of some of the extended jams of the band's debut album though in a higher octave range. (8.7/10)

5. "The Present" (3:38) spacey formless electronica over which, eventually, in the third minute, a recording of Eckhart Tolle speaking is played. The importance of staying present. (8.4/10)

6. "To The Pensieve" (5:53) piano, synths, and dirge-like drum beat over which Erlend and marina sing. A rather dull vocal over some rather unexciting music. More Sigur Rós or Coldplay or Jack O' The Clock or Bon Iver than prog. (4.666667/10)

7. "Dispatch of Species" (2:58) like something from Hans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack: the soundtrack to a wordless funereal montage. (4/5)

CD2: 8. "Curbing Lights" (2:00) like an intro or overture to a cheap sci-fi series on Syfy. Not engineered very well. (4.25/5)

9. "I Am The Night" (10:21) pretty but sounds too much like their album from last years. Nice instrumental passage in the fourth, fifth, and sixth minutes with multiple instruments providing gorgeously beautiful threads to the weave, but then it's all destroyed at 5:34 by a sustained crash of chaos, distortion, and dissonance that lasts for two painful minutes. The slowly ebbing sound of post-apocalyptic decay lasts for another minute before a solo "Sunshine Superman"-like solo bass line enters. 20-seconds later some SIGUR RÓS-like reverse strings joins in, swamping the bass and coercing it into becoming a cello as electric piano single notes notes and reverse-vocals take us out. Despite the great two minutes, this song is just too jagged and An interesting listening experience but nothing I'll return to unless I want to play it for someone else as an example of a cinematic expression of the Apocalypse or going though a blackhole. (17.5/20)

10. "Birds With Borders" (7:04) more folk-feeling acoustic guitar-founded music that sounds like something off of one of Damon Waitkus' JACK O' THE CLOCK albums. Erlend and Charlotte Stav take turns with the vocals, solo Erlend alternating with collective-choral approach, over and over, throughout the song, giving it a very BON IVER feel. Synths and Marina 's erhu provide interesting support during the choral sections. An extended lone acoustic guitar section in the fifth minute is culminated with 4:30 the burst of full rock band with chorus vocals which is then followed by flute and synth solos over the expanded rock BON IVER/ARCADE FIRE-like music. Nice. I like the sparse sections. The choral vocal and expanded band sections again feel murky/overloaded. (13.3333/15)

11. "Tables Turn" (6:18) opens with full band exposing their intentions, but then everything steps back to leave piano and chorus to present the song in its lyrical form. At 1:52 Erlend steps up to lead a full-band counterpoint to the previous perspective established by the mostly female chorus. Again I am reminded of the quirky music of ARCADE FIRE circa 2004. (I honestly don't know any of their music from the last 19 years.) An extended mostly-instrumental section of scattered, spacey strings and synths ensues, kind of capped off by Erlend's attempt at more persuasion. Very interesting. (8.875/10)

12. "King In Yellow" (3:53) acoustic guitars (and heavily-treated drum kit) with destabilized synth soloing over the top. We heard this tactic (to perfection) on the precious album. Here everything feels a bit out synch with so many differing yet-dramatic effects being employed (or not) on each and every one of the other instruments. It kind of feels as if 1970s Richard Wright, 1960s Syd Barrett, and 1940s Roy Haynes were all jamming together. (8.75/10)

13. "Seeds" (6:48) very gentle piano-based duet between Erlend and Marina Skanche that sounds remarkably like MEW's 2003 classic, "Symmetry." The other instruments that are very gradually added to the soundscape are very effective, very At 3:27 the unstable chorused- and delayed-synth saw enters and pretty much dominates as some kind of Shields distortion clouds up the background to simulate the roar of a rocket launch as heard from ground zero. Too bad. I really wish I understood Erlend's intentions when murking up all of these soundscapes with the static-distortion he keeps using. (13/15)

Total: 68'54''

This album brings me to present the case that perhaps side-project bands should be rare and otherwise their sound can become pigeon-holed, predictable, and monotonous. To my mind, this album is nowhere near as cohesive and polished as the previous one. On the contrary, the tracks of heavily distorted sounds employed on almost every song here render much of the music here as scratchy, murky, or outright cacophonous and acrid.

B-/3.5 stars; a disappointing, less proggy, more art-indie rock collection of songs that will please some prog lovers while grate and disenchant others. Good luck finding your joy!

When multi-instrumentalist Erlend Aastad Viken from Soup released the debut album from this project in 2021 it was to almost universal acclaim with many prog critics and reviewers rating it very highly indeed and putting it in their top lists of the year. Of course there is always someone (me) who doesn't share the joy, feeling there was a lack of continuity and direction, and must confess to not being too surprised when I thought the same when I listened to this. I am aware I often do not share the views of others, but I keep listening and wondering if it is just me (which is why I have tried so hard to enjoy Marillion over the last 35 years, but still feel they have lost their way since they dispensed with the tall Scotsman).

There are bits of this which are truly brilliant, but others which feel way too much like "prog by numbers", and while Jean Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield are obviously huge influences (and I admire both of them immensely), this again lacks the clarity of thought and vision to carry off what is undoubtedly a huge project. I count sixteen guests on this, with only two of them not credited with individual tracks (which presumably means they were involved with vast majority), but even with some real drummers we also end up with tracks which sound as if they were programmed and all the worse for it. There are times when this seems almost as if it is a demo, with a feeling that with more care there would be much more depth, but as it is, it is often shallow with a production which seems to have rendered everything one-dimensional and not enough bottom end. I guess I will be in the minority again, but this is certainly not for me.