This album starts off with “Get Away”, and to be honest this really is the intro I was expecting to hear from A Giant Dog. It’s certainly not bad at all though. They’ve always had elements of Indie Rock buried deep in their music, and when they embrace it things get good real quick. As far as the vocal harmonies go, there are tons to love here as well. I honestly feel like when vocalist’s Sabrina Ellis and Andrew Cashen do their whole dual vocals thing, it makes the already fun music of A Giant Dog that much more fun. So no, “Get Away” isn’t the punch and explosive intro I was expecting. But it certainly breaks down the roots of A Giant Dog’s sound really well. Not to mention, I feel like this sort of has a 90’s Alt Rock sound that the band hasn't touched down on yet. So this isn’t a bad intro at all. Up next is “Fake Plastic Trees”, and part of me sort of wanted this to be a Radiohead cover. But mere moments in and it’s clearly not that. Instantly we’re thrown back into the very “Spit in your face” attitude of A Giant Dog. But to be honest, as far as their sound goes, I really don’t think this does it that much justice. All of the opening verses seem to be building up to some huge chorus, but there’s virtually no payoff. I just feel like at the end of the day A Giant Dog have written so much more anthemic and aggressive material. Then we have those strings and backing vocals, which honestly are bizarre and sound like something off of Depeche Mode’s “Music For The Masses”. So “Fake Plastic Trees” doesn’t cut it for me, I kinda wish it WAS a Radiohead cover. Thankfully, A Giant Dog brings in their A-Game VERY quickly with “Bendover”. This track is absolutely brilliant from start to finish. I love Andrew’s almost Goth vocals here, with Sabrina’s usual wail backing him up wonderfully. But the sheer intensity and most importantly just how fun this track is makes everything so much better. At the end of the day, this is exactly what I want to hear from A Giant Dog. These verses are explosive and rebellious, and the chorus here is brilliant and catchy. Everything about this track is what brought me to love A Giant Dog, to begin with. There are still certainly elements of Indie Rock, but when we have those explosive breakdowns that always make me smile. “Bendover” is one hell of a track. One A Giant Dog is on their A Game, it’s really tough to get them off it. “Toy Gun” is up next, and I love the inclusion on this one of the horns which give A Giant Dog’s sound so much more depth. But don’t worry, this is far from Ska, this is still straight up rebellious Punk. As far as a heavy tune goes, this is easily the crunchiest track so far. But at the same time, it’s so much slower of a tune than I expected. That being said, it’s still a damn good tune. I feel like some of the wild backing vocals help bring this to the “Over the Top” status that I love to hear these guys at. Not to mention, this is the first time we’re really hearing Sabrina have the spotlight here, and it’s nice to hear. Then we have “Lucky Ponderosa”, which is easily the most upbeat and aggressive track that I’ve heard here so far. But to be honest, this one really doesn’t hit me that hard at all. The verses here are strangely sluggish, even though they’re still packed with attitude and great lyrics. Even a lot of the chorus is just sort of alright. But this one sounds like such an afterthought for the band. At the very least, the strings on this track sound like they at least a good job of building up some tension. I also really dig that solo at the end of the track, as well as the great energy of that last chorus.
Thankfully though, A Giant Dog never stay down for long. “Photograph” instantly grabs me, with A Giant Dog sounding so comfortable in their sound. The band certainly sound unified which is nice. But the shocking thing about “Photograph” is just how well it’s written. I mean, I shouldn't be that shocked, I’ve always praised A Giant Dog for writing great tunes. But in their own “Tongue In Cheek” way, A Giant Dog on “Photograph” have wrote the sweetest Punk Rock love song I’ve heard in ages. It’s kind of hilarious, but it’s also really genuine, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve said that about a Punk tune. The majority of this track is just so fun, With Sabrina and Andrew’s shared vocal duties actually coming off genuinely sweet. Overall, I love this track. Even instrumentally, this is exactly where I love hearing A Giant Dog, with wild solos and upbeat drums. But then we have “Roller Coaster”, which when I heard this I almost skipped this album entirely. A Giant Dog have always had a sort of Indie edge to them. But this is just one of the most sluggish tracks I’ve ever heard from these guys. The performances all around here sound like they were literally dragged out of the band. Instrumentally, it’s bland and there isn’t anything remotely enjoyable going on. Even some of the heavier moments later in the track come off plain awkward. But every time A Giant Dog sort of let me down with a track, they pull out a track like “Angst In My Pants”, which is easily one of the album’s most shining moments. I actually really dig the feel of that thick synthesizer in the background, and I feel like A Giant Dog can capitalize on it more. The performance on this one isn’t as wild as usual, but it makes up for that with passionate performances from everyone. But once again, it’s the songwriting that really makes this one stand out for me. Not only is this “Angst In My Pants” packed with hilarious one liners, A Giant Dog are writing seriously catchy hooks that stick with you. Sadly though, A Giant Dog continue to have a slight issue with continuity with “Tongue Tied”. This track confuses the hell out of me. A Giant Dog started out their career with these brilliant and upbeat exciting Punk jams are once again working with a much slower and sludgier sound. Now, thankfully this one does straighten up and get as exciting as some of other tracks. But even their performance on this one is a little more stiff and by the books. While this is upbeat and aggressive, the vocals really don’t end up reflecting that at all. Outside of that though, this one certainly isn’t terrible. A Giant Dog however answer that with “Hero For The Weekend”, which is easily the harshest and most aggressive thing here. I absolutely love the dual vocals here, which play off the instrumentals wonderfully. And while the performances on “Hero for the Weekend” are a little less wild, I think the darker tone to this one is a nice change of pace for the band. There are still just so many hilarious and completely ridiculous lines, like that one about the Vagina made of glass. It’s moments like this that make me want to race out and tell everyone I know about A Giant Dog.
A Giant Dog, for the most part, does end this album off pretty well. “Making Movies” brings in a sort of jolly and positive sound that I haven’t heard from A Giant Dog. But they honestly pull it off really well. This track has some serious swagger to its verses. It’s even innocent sounding, even though it’s far from that. “Making Movies” is the sort of fun, peppy song that I wanted to hear from A Giant Dog. Plus, that slide guitar in the background is a seriously nice touch. Then we have “Night Terror”, and the dark undertones on this one are all over the place. To be honest, I think if they did an album going in a darker direction it would work out well because here the dark aspects just make this track surprisingly heavier. But the campiness of this one is what draws me to it. Those synths are corny and sort of goofy, but go with the sound of this track so damn well. Plus, one again this gives Sabrina a real nice time to shine. Some of her more theatrical vocals actually really come off fantastic. Overall, “Night Terror” works out great, but all I can think about after is how much I want them to go dark. This album ends off with “Survive”, and sadly it’s really not that good. Once again, I’m confused on what they were even thinking about with this. This track is such a drag, even though lyrically I don’t mind this at all and Sabrina sounds fine. But it’s just the overall thought behind this track that rubs me the wrong way. “Survive” is just so delicate sounding, even pretty. Which should be an interesting idea from A Giant Dog. But at the end of this day, this track was really poorly put together. In the future, if A Giant Dog wants to continue to blend Indie Rock with their usual aggressive style, there has to be a better way. However, I do have to say the last minute or so here is loads better when the more epic instrumentals roll in.
Rating: 7.6/10
Give A Listen To: "Bendover", "Photograph", "Angst In My Pants", "Hero for the Weekend"
Genre: Punk Rock, Indie Rock
If You Dig This, Check Out: A Giant Dog - "Fight", Downtown Boys - "Full Communism", White Lung - "Sorry"
Overall Thoughts: For the most part, this is a really decent album from A Giant Dog. But I think what really sort of soured me on a few tracks were a few really awkward journeys into a more indie sound. Which on paper has worked for them in the past, and even works on a few tracks here. But it also leads to some of the blandest and most awkward moments of the album. Still A Giant Dog remain one of the most exciting bands in modern punk.
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