Rarely a week goes by without us banging on about some exciting Scandinavian indiepop or shoegaze band. The combined might of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark (not to mention the Baltic states) are continually punching above their weight when it comes to making star-spangled, dreamy, alternative pop music. Helsinki quartet Hello Giants formed last year intent on blurring the boundary between organic indie music and a more electronic-based, pure pop sound. The first fruits of their endeavours have recently been released as their debut EP 'Empires', a place where guitars meet synths and The Shout Out Louds meet The Sound Of Arrows.
In trying to occupy a middle ground you run the risk of alienating indie fans by being a bit too pop, and vice versa. Hello Giants shouldn't have that problem as nothing is watered down in attempting to build a genre spanning sound. The title-track is twinkling and accessible and about as close to the middle as they get, but the rest is more interesting. The jerky guitars of 'Blur' blend nicely with the chiming backing and 'Tigers, Tigers' lays on an extra dash of guitar to compliment the clean vocals. Most interesting of all is probably the indie-funk of 'We Were Alchemists', with its broken rhythm that gives way to hazy and soft textures. So another Nordic indiepop band then, but with the emphasis firmly on the 'pop' aspect, and it might just work for them.
Hello Giants' website
Stream the EP in full
Buy the EP
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