Giant Eye is the sophomore release from King Who. Due out 17 August, the record finds the group refining its dream pop/post-punk sounds. Think the sweetest, catchiest elements of the early Strokes slowed down to West Coast tempos, crashing waves of percussion, keyboards and guitar lines that shimmer like the late summer sun. Though “drenched in reverb” has become a cliché in contemporary music, it applies here though rather than being an affectation it’s instead a tool that accentuates each song’s eerie, somewhat dystopic lyrics and sense of un-ease.
“Ice Cream” is an appropriately summery, occasionally Radiohead-esque saunter buoyed by guitar figures that surprise with each passing measure. There’s a dreamlike quality at its core as we hear a list of things are no more atop a beat that propels us to the end of something: A friendship? Summer? Life? The mysteries don’t reveal themselves any more quickly upon further listens but one supposes that’s the joy of a song like this, that one can revisit it multiple times and still do some searching.
Other key songs include “Kill Me”, “On and On” and the decidedly brilliant opener, “Learn to Swim”. Giant Eye was produced by Hutch Harris of the Thermals and recorded by Victor Nash at Destination: Universe! The LP may be ordered here.