Health & Fitness
Band of the Month: Young the Giant
Young the Giant, a southern California band that recently visited the Firebird in St. Louis, has an album that embodies summer. Here's your June band of the month.
Every month or so, I’m going to introduce readers to an obscure band. I love finding obscure bands, and I figure I’ll share my findings so Patchers can hear the hidden music, too.
Young the Giant fits June perfectly. Their music absolutely embodies summer. I discovered them at a concert a year ago where they were the opening band (at the time called The Jakes), and I've been hooked ever since. The band visited St. Louis' Firebird last month.
Every song on their debut album (only $5 on Amazon!), which shares the same name as the band, is either fantastic or close to it. The album kicks off with “Apartment,” a mid-paced song with noteworthy lyrics and quite a few can’t-get-this-out-of-my-head, catchy-as-hell guitar riffs.
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After “Apartment” is “My Body,” without question the band’s most widely-known song, in which lead singer Sameer Gadhia sings “My body tells me no, but I won’t quit, ‘cause I want more.” The word that comes to mind with this song is fun. Gadhia hits the difficult notes perfectly, and they are well accompanied by a familiar drum beat that kicks off the song (when you hear that beat, you know it’s time for “My Body”).
Up next on the album is “I Got,” a song with peculiar guitar work that completely fits the bubbly tone of the song. Following “I Got” is “Cough Syrup,” which contains beautiful instrumentation (cellos included) and a more serious tone than the first three on the album. This serious tone continues with “God Made Man,” which begins as a soft ballad and ends with the most triumphant conclusion of the album.
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“12 Fingers,” the sixth track on the album, brings back the fun factor of the album, which is continued in the next track “Strings.” The album continues in this manner until the eleventh track, “Islands.” This is the band’s first attempt at a slow paced, calming song, and it works wonderfully. The song starts with lead vocalist Sameer Gadhia and a lone guitar, and ends with a driving drumbeat and Gadhia’s falsetto, which is strangely haunting.
Overall, the album is nearly perfect, especially when you’re cruisin’ around or with your windows down, blasting “My Body.” You won’t be able to resist.