It could reasonably be assumed that a band who go by the name The Giraffe Project are unlikely to be the most self-important, serious and awkward of groups. It could even point to a sense of humour, something which is reinforced by their biography, which runs as follows: "We are The Giraffe Project. We have come to eat your souls and rape your children…. whoops, I mean play rock ‘n’ roll music. Sorry, wrong universe." Band members? Well in this case it's actually a duo called Dr. G. Raffe and Professor Kameelperd. Naturally. As everyone knows there's a fine line between not taking yourselves too seriously and being a novelty act, but how close do The Giraffe Project come to this line?
The answer is purely and simply not very close at all. Yeah there's humour in the set-up of the project, and the music isn't overbearingly challenging, but it is incredibly good and not in the slightest bit a parody of anything. This album is a wonderful psych-pop record that knows not to be contrived or self-important but also recognises the importance of great music. There's little attempt at naff comedy and plenty of attempts at interesting, weird, wonderful and exciting music. Perhaps the closest comparison would be early Super Furry Animals. And check out these for song titles, maths fans: 'Humans On Earth Have Approximately 490 Trillion Collective Thoughts Per Day In The Year' and 'The Probability Of You Existing Is 1 In 10 To The Power Of 2,685,000'. Interesting stuff, and both are quite lovely, short, cosmic ambient pieces.
If we cut to the chase we find a very fine and inventive indie-rock tune called 'A Cog In The Wheel' for starters, and If The Giraffe Project were looking for singles then 'In Chemicals' is a sterling effort that's close to mid-period Flaming Lips or the aforementioned SFA, and also the funkier psych of 'Can I Kill You' which explodes into colour. The six-minutes plus of 'Environmental Noise' is a quality psych-pop tune with the odd hint of The Beatles and it never feels overlong, quite the opposite; it's a highlight. They finish with the gentle burning out of the cosmic flame on the piano piece 'Turquoise' and at seven songs you feel robbed, even though the album is free. 'The Giraffe Project Part 1' is that good you just don't want it to end. I guess the good new is the "Part 1" element, which indicates more to follow. We already can't wait.
The Giraffe Project's website
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