As I’m sure that we will all agree : 2020 was a bit weird. Never before did I think that I would experience something in my life which would totally disrupt all of my plans and the way I live. From travel to work, friends and family, life goals and celebrations.

Now we’re into 2021 and, whilst there is hope in the form of vaccinations, we are now in a national lockdown (in the UK) unable to leave our homes unless it’s for essentials.

On the plus side, it has given me plenty of time to work my way through some new music. In fact, I have a bit of a backlog to write about starting with “Home of the Strange” by Young the Giant.

Home of the Strange by Young the Giant
Home of the Strange by Young the Giant

Young the Giant are a rock band from California. They have used this name since 2010 although they technically formed as a high school band in 2004 called The Jakes (and acronym of all of the band members first names). Since then, some of the line up has changed and here we are.

In terms of backstory, that’s about it but don’t let that put you off!

“Home of the Strange” is their first album released back in 2010. In it, we have 11 clever and joyous rock tracks opening with “Amerika”, the launch track and easily one of the best .

The album explores their immigrant history and American identity – the lead singer, Sameer Gadhia, is of Indian with others in the band also immigrants from various places including Italy and UK – and this lends itself to a wonderful tapestry of great stories and reflections that have been woven into each song.

Each of the tracks is a story accompanied with a particular crafted tune. No one track sounds like the last and each one brings you on a journey. It’s the sort of album that you would gladly have on in the even and pay attention to it and I think that alone speak volumes.

They have a couple of other albums to check out and I’ll review them later but, for now, turn off Netflix/Disney +/Amazon Prime/whatever else you’ew watching, fire up your hi-fi and enjoy some good music for 2021.

There plenty more to come.

G

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