Album Review: Giss – ‘II’

Indie explorers Giss cover a lot of musical ground on their new album ‘II’, from indie-rock, to psychedelic, to electronic, all delivered with a freeing ease and a shimmering confidence.

Opening with the high octane, beguiling and psychedelic ‘Morning Battle’, Giss open the album in an energetic, hypnotic fashion. Riff heavy with crunchy guitars and punching drums pulling the track forward under the repeating vocal line, the track is a feverish intro which slowly develops before breaking into a synth heavy close, introducing the twinkling electronics which can be found making appearances across the album. Already bright and exciting, the track is a brilliantly enticing way to start the 10 track release.

Quickly moving into the more electronic textures of their sound, ‘Airball’ skirts on the edge of lounge music with clicking electronic beats, gentled strummed acoustics and swelling synths under a delicate lead vocal. At the 40 second mark the track kicks into it’s infectious, full band, Doves-esque chorus with explosive impact before slipping into a swaying, sunny beach slide guitar solo. It’s a fascinating transition which showcases the bands impeccable musical abilities, brilliant chord progressions and unique blend of genres.

Elsewhere on the album ‘Better Call Paul’ offers up more psychedelic indie-pop experimentation while ‘Look Out’ offers a more atmospheric, ballad with chopping twinkling piano loops which bounce around the strummed acoustic guitars, swelling synths and melancholic vocal delivery to create an affecting soundscape comparable to Radiohead.

‘Kaleidoscope’ see’s the band return to their more straight, but still eccentric, funk and psych tinted full band, indie sound. ‘Breathe on Me’ delivers on the atmospheric electronic tendencies the band possess with a hypnotic, dark soundscape while ‘Waiting for an Audience’ and ‘I Need Love’ close the album with the infectious, bright indie-such-pop that would be described as the bands most comfortable and recurrent sound.

An album full of wonderful ideas, intricate songwriting and some excellently thought out tacks, ‘II’ is no doubt an exciting, intriguing and genuinely brilliant offering. The production is spotless, perfectly balancing atmospheric delays and reverbs with tight, clean textures to create a professional, polished sound despite the beguiling nature of the soundscapes.

The bands use of varying styles in the same track, brining together psych with indie-pop, changing from section to section is wonderful, experimental and brilliantly done. Always cohesive and delivered with an air of ease and wit, the sounds, textures and melodies are brilliant, a true display of musical maturity, even delivering deceptively catchy chorus’s that stick with you. A stellar collection of tracks from a band who already sound like the next big thing.