Front L-R: Eric Cannata, Payam Doostzadeh, Sameer Gadhia Back L-R: Jacob Tilley, François Comtois
than 40 years, America won’t include a “single racial or ethnic majority.” Insiders and outsiders appear set for a collision. And here, into 2016 America, this quintet of immigrant kids and first-generation Americans release a rock album that wrestles with this very tension. “We all have our relationship here in America now,” Sameer Gadhia, Young the Giant frontman says, “but I think our identity is somewhat in between.” Home of the Strange, for the most part, sounds like Young the Giant. From their beginning, the band’s music popped with sounds, tones and textures that don’t normally appear in rock. You’re
as likely to hear a traditional Indian or Persian instrument as you are a guitar. This fabric of sounds is on full display in Home of the Strange. But one of the first things you’ll notice is the absence of the synth-driven hooks that characterized Mind Over Matter. That album presented a more aggressively rock feel, where Home of the Strange hints back to the self-titled project—while steadfastly pushing their sound forward. At a moment when seemingly everyone in the music industry trips over themselves to experiment with all sounds electronic, Young the Giant doesn’t take the bait. Gadhia says the progression is natural:
HOME OF THE STRANGE
Young the Giant’s third album debuted at No. 1 on iTunes.
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