Naked Giants
When Naked Giants formed in 2014, the Seattle trio—vocalist/guitarist Grant Mullen, bassist/vocalist Gianni Aiello and drummer Henry LaVallee—were all eighteen years old, and full of the reckless, restless energy of youth. A decade on, both they and the world have changed immensely. Shine Away—the band’s third full-length, following on from 2018’s SLUFF and 2020’s The Shadow—is very much an acknowledgement of that. It’s an album that doesn’t just reflect on the personal life and times of the three of them and the world at large, but casts a discerning, self-reflective eye on what it’s like to be in, and be, Naked Giants. It’s the sound of a band coming into, and becoming, themselves. Of course, that’s a never-ending process, but for the first time in their career, Naked Giants are taking stock of their journey—who and what they were, are, and want to be.
“Our first record was still running on fuel from starting the band as 18 year olds with a rock’n’roll dream,” says Mullen. “Since then, life has changed. We all got day jobs or went back to school, and really grew into ourselves individually. Before, we were anxious to express ourselves in whatever way we could through music. Now, we have more to say, and I think we’ve made a record with more meaning and purpose.”
Despite these personal changes Shine Away contains the same sense of impetuous urgency that defined SLUFF. and the band’s preceding 2016 debut EP, R.I.P., and was still to be found within the fabric of The Shadow’s songs, too. So while the band might be removed from their younger selves, there are still traces of those people in these nine songs.
“I’ve realized that being an effective communicator is such an important part of being a musician,” adds Aiello. “We’re carrying the typical garage-rock ‘throw it at the wall and see what sticks’ ethos with us to this new phase of life. This time around, there’s room in the music (and in ourselves) not only for the young raucous kids we used to be, but also for the fully emotional people we’re becoming—people with hearts that love and break and ache and all that kind of stuff.”
From the angular awkwardness strains of opener “Apartment 3” to the lackadaisical catchiness of the title and closing track, Shine Away demonstrates that duality. Produced by Dylan Wall—who, in a full-circle moment, recorded the band’s first ever EP—at Seven Hills Studio in Capitol Hill, Seattle, Shine Away takes the listener on a journey of emotional (self-)discovery via a slew of sounds that take influence from Jonathan Richman, (good era) Weezer, Joyce Manor and even Daniel Johnston. At the same time, these songs sound less like anyone else than just the current iteration of Naked Giants. It also represents the light at the end of a tunnel that saw the band, as Aiello puts it, having to “deal with our real world problems—addiction, trauma, mental health.” Integral to that was another central idea of the record—the death and rebirth of the rock’n’roll dream, and the distance between what that dream was when the band started compared to today.
“The rock and roll dream of my youth had to crash and burn out on the road” says Mullen, “It just wasn’t real, and I was heading toward a dead end. Once I let go, I realized I already had what I had been searching for in that fantasy—the love for writing and playing music, and getting to share it.” “Grant actually put it this way once, the spirit of rock’n’roll is choosing life,” adds Aiello. “It’s choosing to continue. There’s so much in this world that makes you want to roll over and give up, and everyone’s struggle is so intricate and unique that it can be rather isolating. But that spirit of choosing to continue, choosing to find what still brings you joy and sharing that as far and wide as you can – that’s what ties us all together.”
