GIANT SKY II

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.