After half a decade of being a band, numerous awards won in their native Germany, and a seven-digit monthly listenership on Spotify, it feels high time Giant Rooks released their long-awaited debut album.
It's easy to forgive the indie rock five-piece for the wait when listening to 'Rookery', as it instantly becomes clear they took the time to carefully refine their sound, creating an album that is dramatic in only the best sense of the word.
Opener ‘The Birth of Worlds’ is a perfect setup to the rest of the album with an atmospheric, floating soundscape, strong backing vocals and an emotive richness that captures Giant Rooks’ essence instantly.
‘Watershed’ is a vibrant, pop-laden track that’s easily one of Giant Rooks’ more preppy offerings, while ‘Heat Up’ matches more of the band’s previous songs, as do ‘Silence’ and ‘Wild Stare’.
‘Misinterpretations’, the most recent single, is where their sonic switches..
The smooth vibes of 'Very Soon You’ll See’ is in the vein of The Neighbourhood’s ‘Sweater Weather’, and while the chorus still gives us very familiar Giant Rooks sounds, the verses show a more mature side of Frederik Rabe’s vocals.
Elsewhere, ‘Rainfalls’, is a surprisingly emotive and powerful piece regardless of it being just a single line repeated throughout the entirety of the song; “Rain falls slowly / I’ve been watching it for ages now."
Closer ‘Into Your Arms’ starts out as one of the calmest songs on the album, with a comfortably slow pace and genuine vocals, before inexplicably sliding into auto-tuned, electronic pop, slightly reminiscent of Cher’s ‘Believe’ - it's definitely the most Marmite track of the record that will no doubt divide opinion.
After five years of anticipation, it's safe to say 'Rookery' was more than worth the wait.
With their debut outing the quintet have set the bar extremely high - we just hope the next one won’t take as long!
Rating: 8/10
FFO: AnnenMayKantereit, Leoniden
Release date: 28.08.20
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