New Zealand duo Giantess are set to well and truly make 2020 their own, sharing ‘The News’ as the first single from their upcoming debut album.
For a few years throughout the 2010s, music fans in Australia and New Zealand would’ve been lucky enough to catch witch-rock HEX performing live. Featuring Kiki Van Newtown’s thunderous writing and Jason Erskine’s transcendent production, HEX released just two records between 2015 and 2018, curating a legacy that has lasted long since their dissolution.
Of course, for those who lament the loss of the group, or were lucky enough to catch them supporting names like Dinosaur Jr. or Shonen Knife, the good news is that from the ashes of HEX rises Giantess; a new outfit once again showcasing the talents of Van Newtown and Erskine.
Describing their music as being “heart-songs steeped in floods and fires”, the pair are gearing up to release their debut album, Big Woman, in mid 2020. However, to give fans a taster of what to expect, they’ve recently shared their new single, ‘The News’.
A dark number which borrows stylistic elements from the neofolk genre, ‘The News’ sees Van Newtown’s warm and soaring vocals accompanied by the masterful production of Erskine, while the pounding rhythms of Lauren Ellis round out the track.
“‘The News’ is the opening track off our forthcoming album Big Woman,” Van Newtown explains of he track. “It describes the out-of-body feeling of breaking up, of going through the motions of distress before the warm blue hits.
“I wrote this song in simpler times over a decade ago, and it resurfaced as the obvious overture for this album, which is all relationship disintegration and returning to myself.”
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Accompanied by a video which complements powerful performance and storytelling elements with organic imagery, Van Newtown explains that the clip helps to give greater context to the song as a whole.
“Our long time collaborator Amber Beaton made the video,” she explains. “She invited me up to the Central Plateau and made me get in the October lake for the second time.
“She perfectly captured the organic and elemental nature of love and heartbreak, the stillness, the colour, and the cyclical nature of destruction and creation.”
While their nine-track debut will be released later in 2020, it will feature the pair joined by Callum Gay (Spook the Horses) on drums and Amber Beaton (GATSK) on guitar, and looks set to be one of the most powerful entries to the year’s musical calendar.
Check out Giantess’ ‘The News’ below, and be sure to hit them up on social media to stay tuned for any live shows in the near future.
Check out ‘The News’ by Giantess:
