There must be someone who deserves the same hype as Frank Ocean. There must be and here he is. Twenty year old author and multi instrumentalist Alex Guannascoli presented us with his 8th studio album in the middle of May. This is his second effort under eponymous Domino label. Career of this musician from Philadelphia is in its upstream flow, considering that he was dropping self-released album ever since he was a teenager. He finally reached wider audience thanks to collaboration with Frank Ocean and critically praised Beach Music, his previous album. We can say with certainty that Alex G is one of the most representative singers of contemporary indie rock sound, alongside Will Toledo from Car Seat Headrest.
On Rocket, Alex G offers all of his talent and showcases how does it sound when artists realizes his full potential. He totally surrendered to experimentation, and explored genre that are not that close to his sensibility. The core of his musical expression didn’t change; lo-fi indie with prominent folk and Americana elements. The essence is embellished with numerous sonic solutions. This says a lot about the character of this young American – that he is a brave artists. For example, the number County is a lounge pop sang in falsetto, while jazz Guilty crawls in warm and seductive melody of saxophone. Guilty closes the album in the best possible way.
The album also holds songs such as Brick that represents noise industrial hip hop with hardcore punk elements, or Horse that sees intersection of dissonant piano melody and electronic effects. There are also typical alt-country tracks such as opening number Poison Root. My personal favorite is sweet and mirthful interplay of piano and percussion titled Proud. Another standout is Bobby, where Emily Yacina keeps him company.
With all the above being written, I must conclude that comparisons with Elliot Smith are justified. Alex G might be one of those artists whose albums are going to be highly anticipated by all the major music magazines. Even If that doesn’t occur, I know that I am going to be yearning for his material, because the album Rocket totally made me an Alex G groupie.
