Photographed by [Chris Maghsodi](https://www.instagram.com/sodiiiiiiiii/?hl=en).
[Alex Giannascoli](https://www.instagram.com/sandyalexg/) has been providing the soundtrack for those that claim over and over they have been growing up in the wrong generation for a decade now. This is not due to possessing a vintage sound or nostalgic marketing tactics. This comes from his wholesome song writing and trusting his singing from inside that makes you feel as if you don’t know if you are at a backyard show or on the road with good friends heading north at 3am out of the city. Kim Gordon in a recent interview with The New York Times Style Magazine spoke on how Neil Young influenced her to become a better musician. “One thing he said about singing — that it doesn’t matter how good your voice is, as long as it’s authentic — gave me a lot of courage and made me think about it in a different way.” There are direct parallels with how Alex has recorded and performed throughout his career trusting this method. An emphasis on where it’s coming from, more than where it’s supposed to be headed.
Forget pitchfork’s top 200 albums of the 2010’s right now and let’s just think about this year. In my opinion, House of Sugar is the best album of 2019. From it’s hypnotic sentimental openers “Hope” scaling into experimental instrumental ear worms “Taking”, closing with his original dark country sound with “Crime” formed sound originally formed on his previous album Rocket. This album provides for all emotions taking place this fall. It is his most cohesive project out of his extensive discography, with the whole record flowing naturally one song to the next, producing a “hide tide effect” that keeps you returning. This is (Sandy) Alex G’s formative record. House of Sugar is capturing a specific time between young people this generation that want to feel something by relatable lyrics and obvious emotion. Not a polished mixed recording or involving a pleasing aesthetic gimmick, a formula Alex has gone by since his bandcamp days. Simplistic poetry is involved like his past projects’s the last ten years, which begun the comparisons of generational act Neil Young, putting more emphasis on the content being sung. As well as placing less focus on how pleastenly the lyrics are sung. Everyone’s favorite 90’s slackers, Pavement, come to mind.
This album is relevant more than ever. It’s the end of summer and House of Sugar has been released. The content relates to everything that comes with the change of seasons. Strong lyrical themes on House of Sugar possess a sense of intimacy coming then leaving you. You have lyrics reflecting on times with someone dear to you this summer on “Southern Sky.” “You and me, these are titles I can hardly speak, are we bound here to an echo tinted, blue and green.” Towards the end of the album on song “Crime” you hear the lyrics, “Careful what you do, or I'm leaving without you, Careful what you do, Or I'm leaving without you” reminding you there are consequences that come with change.
We met at the The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco’s sometimes rough tenderloin neighborhood, where I saw a John Maus show last freezing December while still attending college. I got a better understanding of the metaphors behind House of Sugar, collaborating with his girlfriend musically, shooting ideas for the painted cover art with his sister, and putting the final touches on finishing the mix in New York for House of Sugar.
Photographed by [Chris Maghsodi](https://www.instagram.com/sodiiiiiiiii/?hl=en).
**I was curious about the relation between the RIvers Casino in Philadelphia, formerly known as the Sugar House and the parallels between your new 8th studio album. There are also connections between the album and the folklore Hansel & Gretel I sense.**
AG: I thought Sugar is a good symbol for a million things. There’s the Sugar House casino in Philly, then there’s the Sugar House in the tale, but I don’t want to limit it to just things. SugarHouse Casino, I’ve been there a few times but as far as the album goes there’s not a through line of the casino through the whole album. There is the song Sugar House - Live at the end. More like the characters in their gambling, I know people who lost a lot of money gambling in there and it’s a funny habit. I shouldn’t say anything like that’s a funny habit. You know there’s characters, I can just leave it at that, it’s a real good place to find characters
**Remembering when Rocket dropped, it was so good seeing people who weren’t familiar with your music be like, “Have you heard the new (Sandy) Alex G record, Rocket!” The first albums I was introduced of yours were “Trick” and “Brite Boy” back in the fall of 2015, when I first moved to San Francisco. So It seemed as if Rocket was reaching new audiences at the time of the release, maybe do to it’s warm folk-like influence on songs like “Bobby”, or the carry-on of mastering voice effects since early (Sansy) Alex G projects, “Sportstar.” When did you start to find the direction of where you wanted to take your next project, House of Sugar, after the critically acclaimed Rocket.**
AG: Probably when I was two thirds of the way through the whole writing process you know. I sort of just make the songs as they come to me without apple aboraching, but then I started to see a theme in everything that I was writing that wasn’t intended but was there. So then I started to wrap it up in this way that what I was writing was a little more coherent. Does that make sense?
**I’m always so paranoid with the recorder, I don’t know if I’m ever turning it off by accident.**
AG: I’ve seen people have two phones and shit, just to be safe!
Photographed by [Chris Maghsodi](https://www.instagram.com/sodiiiiiiiii/?hl=en).
**I’ve explained to friends that Alex in a sense is really forming his own genre. Dark Folk.**
**On the new record we see more addition of incorporating a folk influence on some of your most recent work, featured on the plunging climatic opening tracks “Gretel” and the heartwarming dancy ballad, “Southern Sky” featuring a long time collaborator of yours, Emilly Yacina. Violinist collaborator,** [**Molly Germer**](http://www.mollygermer.com/) **, who provided violin work for more than half the tracks on Rocket is back to tear your heart into two on House of Sugar. What period did you find yourself attracted to bringing in the sound of the violin, forming future twangy ballads?**
AG: of the first songs I wrote when I was making Rocket, was “Bobby.” You know it happened to come about in that style and I was like you know this could use some fiddle. I contacted Molly Germer who I went to highschool with, to see if she could add violin to it and she was really good the first time we were working together during those sessions. I live with her now, she’s my girlfriend. So I’m in the process of making House of Sugar, and I’ll be like hey Molly do you want to try putting something on this, if something is missing? Usually she does a really great job at that.
**Turning back to incredibly well written ballad, was “Bobby” the start of true-duet styled song in your career? I know Emilly Yacina is a returning collaborator since your early releases, dating back to DSU.**
AG: Maybe that was the first one I did. You know I’ve been making shit since I was a kid and trying different shit out. So nothing ever feels like the first time, even when it is the first time. Ideas like that come and go. So It might be the first time, but there might be some old shit that like that too.
Photographed by [Chris Maghsodi](https://www.instagram.com/sodiiiiiiiii/?hl=en).
**Is there a difference for you recording House of Sugar in Philadelphia vs New York?**
AG: Not really because 95% of the new album was recorded in Philly. In New York, I redid the drums for a few songs, with Jake Portrait, who mixed Beach Music, Rocket, and now, House of Sugar. While mixing “Gretel” he was like “I’m trying to make these drums more present, but I can’t do it, you should re-record the drums here with better microphones” and I was like sure. So for instance, “Gretel”, “In My Arms” and one other song were touched up in New York, thanks to him. I’m grateful he got me to do that.
**I love how on “Gretel” it comes in with a sample filtered out as the intro, is that a sample? Then it just plateaus so heavily into the descending guitars and bass, literally sounding like it’s dropping. No pun intended.**
AG: I took a piece of the chorus and then just ran that through some pitch shifter/filter and looped it. Placing it in the beginning and closing of the song.
Photographed by [Chris Maghsodi](https://www.instagram.com/sodiiiiiiiii/?hl=en).
**When I first listened to the new album all the way through, I got to the final track, SugarHouse - Live, and I mean this in the best way possible, I right away got a Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska era ballad influence, singing very chest out, mocking the overused dad rock term. What was the background decision between leaving it a live record, would a CDQ recorded version be too polished and too serious, due to intending it to be poking a sense of fun?**
AG: I was listening to Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” album a lot and he has a couple live songs on that album.
**The last one’s near 15 minutes almost haha, are you thinking of the ender song “Natural Beauty”?**
AG: Yeah it’s really good, I’ve listened to that album a bunch of times, liking the way it felt when it headed towards the live tracks. I also wanted to have the band that I toured with and play with all the time to be on the album too. So I figured it was just the best way to record SugarHouse - Live. Especially because it’s just a pretty traditional song, you know what I mean. A lot of the time I’m trying to be as fresh as I possibly can, but this is a song that I thought has a very traditional structure. So I might as well go all the way in, it gives it a grander context.
Photographed by [Chris Maghsodi](https://www.instagram.com/sodiiiiiiiii/?hl=en).
**I noticed dating way back starting with your early bandcamp releases, your sister Rachel Giannascoli has been the artist behind most of your album covers including your most recent we have been discussing, House of Sugar. Are you guys getting together every time, making a mood board with ideas for her to paint per say, or do you like her to take most creative control of creating the concept that becomes the final painting on your album covers?**
AG: It changes. I see her all the time because we both live kind of close to each other back in Philly. WIth Rocket, I just sent her the songs I was working on and asked her “can you make me a cover?” She say yeah, sending me some paintings she was working on at the time. “Awesome!” It just worked. With this new one, there’s a picture I admired her in my home of her doing a figure skater pose. Back when she used to be an ice skater. “Hey can you paint ths for the new cover?” That was pretty much it. For DSU she was telling me about a dream with this football player running on the field. For Beach Music, I asked her to make a cover and told her to do whatever she wanted to paint. So It changes always with each project.
**The DSU cover has always been my favorite to look at. Being the viewer might feel like you’re on the field with the athlete facing all these Wii sports like characters in the crowd watching.**
AG: Yeah it’s like really aggressive.
Recommended tracks: “SugarHouse - Live”, “In My Arms”, “Crime”, “Gretel”, “Southern Sky”, the whole damn album.
Gretel was featured on Frank Ocean’s most recent episode of his Apple Music radio station: “blonded radio 009”
A special thanks to Shelley Wright & Sydney Yeo at Domino Record Co.
Watch the recently released music video for “In My Arms” directed by Zev Magasis here: [https://smarturl.it/InMyArmsYT](https://smarturl.it/InMyArmsYT "https://smarturl.it/InMyArmsYT")
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