"Seventeen cigarettes cashed in a tray / I use my lungs as a mirror / Everything normal just burning away / What’s left over is clearer..."
I think I know why music connects so well with certain of us. It is because songs can feel like we wrote them and I don't mean in a sort of cliché way as if to say that it "speaks to me" or that "I feel exactly the same way". Sometimes the connection feels deeper, the words are our words, the emotional diorama painted with our hands, like being stuck in a Stephen King story when you hear a song that was stolen from you in every way.
"Summer, after" by Los Angeles based Giant Waste of Man (comprised of rock veterans / survivors made up of former and current members of Black Heart Procession, Sun Drug, Summer Darling, Kissing Cousins, Facial, and QunQ) almost feels exactly like that except I don't for a minute feel like I wrote / composed it. I am not that talented. I do feel innately attuned to the pervasive beauty and sadness. It feels as if it were born more than composed or maybe even purged like letting butterflies in your stomach free.
Of the song singer-songwriter, guitarist Benji shares:
"I don't believe the songwriter has a monopoly on a song's meaning, so I'm always a bit wary of being overly specific about what a song is about. However, I can tell you about the day I wrote it. It was the day after my birthday. I was hungover and, frankly, pretty bummed after watching yet another protest be cleared by militant force while simultaneously having no idea when my job as a bartender would return. The world felt more viscerally terrifying than ever, but also connected: we were all going through it together."
I love the lyrics that feel both curious and beautifully moving and this part sticks in my head, "You know it levels me out / By how much pain you'll take / If I say I don’t want you / You love me anyway", even though they are maybe the most directly candid poetry offered here and easy to decipher. Other words, more vague capture that part of me that wants to make up the back story. The interwoven music is exquisitely shaped from the tactile acoustic guitar, to electric guitar sparkles, to the piano notes falling down dissonant holes, to the drumming that is brilliantly subtle to the earnest orchestration and the broken hushed harmonies. It is all so perfect as rendered by Cam (guitar, vox), Heather (vox), Brandon Hardy (drums), Scott (piano), Benji (vox, guitar), Robert (synth) and Jessica Kitzman (cello and violin).
-Robb Donker Curtius
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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.instagram.com/giantwasteofman/
https://giantwasteofman.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIq7cyjFbYGijpFYHEyM7AQ
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0so7V9DStA5VCWSYVKcm5q
https://twitter.com/giantwasteofman
https://www.tiktok.com/@giantwasteofman
https://soundcloud.com/giantwasteofman
Giant Waste of Man is excited to announce 3rd new single "Summer, after" out 5/17 on Chain Letter Collective
For fans of Modest Mouse, Broken Social Scene, and the sound of the Pacific Northwest in the ‘90s, the Los Angeles-based GWOM is made up of rock veterans. Collectively comprised of (former and current) members of acts such as Black Heart Procession, Sun Drug, Summer Darling, Kissing Cousins, Facial, and QunQ, the GWOM bandmates have spent time touring the U.S. & Europe and have opened for acts such as Billy Corgan, Pedro the Lion, Young the Giant, Dead Sara & Explosions in the Sky.
First 2 singles "Jumpsuit" & "Swim," served as the band's reintroduction to the world and earned ample praise from the press. Uproxx showcased both tracks in their "Best New Indie Music" feature, calling Swim a "gripping ballad" and honoring the band with a vocal comparison to The National's Matt Berninger. BuzzBands.LA also gave them love - making a note of the single's "stinging beauty" while calling the track "a deeply introspective mini-epic." Press has noted GWOM is “beautifully torn & complex,” giving a nod to the PWN in the ‘90s while creating a sound that “feels nostalgic but incredibly fresh”. American Pancake compared the band to Modest Mouse and Miracle Legion and noted "Swim" as "a song that moves you." The track also has gotten play on 88.5 FM radio in Los Angeles & 91x in San Diego and earned shout-outs from Screaming For Years.
Giant Waste of Man are now presenting Summer, after the 3rd of 4 singles leading to the upcoming LP that's slated for late summer.
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Giant Waste of Man, Indie Rock, Emo, Alternative Rock, post punk, emotional storytelling, GWOM, "Summer, after", via Chain Letter Collective, Los Angeles, Black Heart Procession, Sun Drug,
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