Sabrina Ellis screams into the microphone as she performs with her rock band, A Giant Dog, at Slim's during the seventh annual Hopscotch Music Festival on Sept. 8. A Giant Dog was among the 120 performers at this year's event, which spanned 12 different venues in downtown Raleigh.
Released in May of 2016, “Pile” is a work of energetic, thrashing, indie rock brilliance. Serving as A Giant Dog’s debut onto the famous label Merge Records, this album swings hard and knocks it straight out of the park with a fusion of various rock genres into one crazy modern alt-rock work of brilliance.
A Giant Dog has actually been around since a little before 2010, when it released its first EP. The band has since released two full-length LP’s in addition to “Pile,” which as previously stated, served as its debut on the Merge Records label. For those unfamiliar with Merge Records, that’s a big deal. Some of the signed artists include Arcade Fire, Dinosaur Jr., Drive Like Jehu, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Mountain Goats, Conor Oberst and Waxahatchee, among several others who carry a sizeable following.
The band consists of Sabrina Ellis on vocals, Andrew Cashen on vocals and guitar, Andy Bauer on guitar, Graham Low on bass and Matthew Strmiska on drums. The band is well-known for putting on a furiously energetic live show, whipping crowds into a frenzy with nonstop head-banging performances.
There’s a great variety on this album; the band never strays too far away from their brand of rock, but it’s a versatile brand that features elements of grunge, punk, rockabilly and indie. There’s also strong use of lo-fi distortion on the vocals for a number of songs as well as on the rhythm guitars. However, this distortion is applied sparingly and most of the other instruments are left free of this filtering.
There’s bright and clean piano and bass that bleed through to form the melodic accompaniment, occasionally replacing the guitar as the main form of accentuation. The clean, clear-cut rhythm guitar complements the vocals beautifully. The band’s sound is bright and hectic, with a driving, nonstop energy that propels each song forward. The album never really drops below third gear, with every song retaining at least some notion of this intensity. What really sells it is the perfectly mastered and tracked rhythm guitars, and moreover, the vocals.
The vocals, provided at all times by both Ellis and Cashen, are perfectly blended so that the two voices become one raw but technically precise sound. There aren’t many bands that can rock the nonstop duo form of vocals, and A Giant Dog deserves hearty praise for its ability to make it one of its main strengths. Both Ellis and Cashen are formidably fantastic vocalists, sporting the range and control that only years of practice can provide. Though Ellis overshines Cashen quite a bit, both are great at what they do and judging from the mastering, this effect seems mostly intentional.
Though the vocals are basically always yelled, the emotional effect of each song isn’t just limited to anger or excitement. The lyrical content and the way the songs are performed actually have the capability to convey very complex emotions. In between the mosh-pit anthems are songs like “Jizzney,” the wistful, apprehensive tale about a creepy fan who comes off as both perplexing and nostalgic. There’s also “King Queen,” which carries with it a youthful sense of wonder and gaiety but also the adult sensation of wishful thinking; the result of dreaming of grandeur and subsequently laughing at the absurdity of those dreams.
By far the slowest song on the album is “Get With You and Get High,” a sort of somber song that enjoys the moment of longing in seeing the one you love but being unable to be with them. It’s got some of the most radically different instrumentation on the album and carries a very different tone. Even though it’s not the strongest feature on the album, this track serves as a perfect example of the band’s willingness to experiment with radically different sounds. Variety is good. Inconsistency to the point where an album doesn’t feel like one piece isn’t great, but it’s better than an album that has as much variety as a pack of white crayons and the lasting appeal of fruit stripe gum.
One final point about this album is that it has a sense of humor. Several songs get a little silly at times and aren’t anywhere near afraid to embrace the absurd. The last few seconds on the track actually mock those artsy types of bands that take themselves too seriously, with a faux-classical instrumental arrangement that ends with one of the band members making some sort of undignified grunt as the music cuts out immediately. It’s fantastic and perfectly characteristic of the band’s playful and gritty sound.
This album is a fantastic work of art and should be enjoyed immensely by those who like upbeat, abrasive and fun alternative rock. Some of the highlights of this album include the songs “Sleep When Dead,” “Sex & Drugs” (both of which are in rotation at WKNC, the latter of which has an amazing music video), “King Queen,” “Jizzney” and “I’ll Come Crashing.” Every track on the album is enjoyable, but these in particular are highly addictive.
Were it not for a few minor details, this would be a near perfect album; several of the lesser tracks feel gimmicky. It’s as if they’re too restrained by the band’s general style to be 100 percent enjoyable. Despite this, “Pile” is still worthy of piles of praise. The next time the reader goes concert shopping, it is advised that they keep an eye out for A Giant Dog; this is one bite that you won’t want to avoid.