THE GIANTS

Get-to-know Young the Giant, a Californian band that you didn’t know you needed in your life but trust me: you DO.

Five different places in the world and five great distinct minds that “think alike”. What would they have in common? Great music. Having a lead singer from an Indian family, a British guitarist, a French-Canadian drummer, a first-generation Persian-American bassist and another guitarist that is Italian-Jewish born in New Jersey, the least you could expect is diversity on their sound.

Which they deliver, and much more. Listening to Young the Giant, no matter the song, make you feel those butterflies in your stomach, that sensation of excitement and anxiety for what’s to come. Let’s meet our Artist of the Week in more depth:

Young the Giant was basically created during high school, under the name of The JAKES (an acronym made of its members' first names: Jacob Tilley, Addam Farmer, Kevin Massoudi, Ehson Hashemian, and Sameer Gadhia). After some changes and integrants leaving the group to pursue higher education full-time, only two of its founders remained: Sameer (lead singer) and Jacob (guitarist). Three new addition, later on, made YGT what it is nowadays: Eric Cannata (guitarist, joined the group in 2008), Francois Comtois (drummer, joined YTG also in 2008) and Payam Doostzadeh (bassist). During late 2009’s and early 2010’s, The JAKES changed its name, becoming officially Young the Giant.

Young the Giant at Sasquatch in 2011.
(Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_the_Giant_at_Sasquatch_2011.jpg)

Their first studio work released was the single Cough Syrup, that peaked the 3^rd position in the US Alternative charts. The song also received Platinum Certification in the United States and Italy and Gold in Canada.

Shortly after, it was released their eponymous debut album, called “Young The Giant”, which was highly acclaimed by the public and critics. Until now, they have two more albums, “Mind Over Matter” (2014) and Home of The Strange (2016); and have been performing in many festivals around the globe, such as Lollapalooza and Anagrama Festival.

Young The Giant

With important singles like “My Body” and “Cough Syrup”, Young the Giant was released in 2010 and contains 12 tracks. Although some of them sound a bit “generic” and doesn’t offer unprecedented sounds, all the songs have a great rhythmic feel and engaging lyrics. It’s impossible not to like!

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Mind Over Matter

13 singles make up Mind Over Matter (Is it only me or this name is really cool?). Here, we can notice a development in the band’s sonority, a ripening in their sounds and techniques. “Crystallized” and “It’s About Time” deserve to be highlighted, especially the last one, that is a pleasant musical journey, one of those songs that make you travel without leaving your place and fit basically every situation you find yourself in (on my playlist, it was on a repeat loop for a very long time… Like… Years to be completely sincere).

Home Of The Strange

In the band’s third LP, we can feel that their ripening process, which started on the second album, is finished. In Home Of The Strange, we can feel the identity of the band, their signature, their essence poured into an album. Original beats and honest lyrics, everything well organized and constructed, making it seem like they found themselves musically. According to some interviews, the album is inspired by the immigrants' situation in the U.S., a situation the band itself relates to since all of them are immigrants or immigrants' descendants. Definitely worth a listen are: “Amerika”, “Something to Believe In”, “Art Exhibit” and “Silvertongue”.