“Is the truth trapped behind iron lock and key?” asks Alex Giannascoli on “Guilty,” the closing track of his excellent new album, Rocket. When it comes to his music, the answer is a resounding yes.
Six years ago, the Philadelphia-based musician began releasing his lo-fi bedroom recordings on Bandcamp, with double-tracked vocals that’ve inspired some knee-jerk comparisons to the late Pacific Northwest singer/songwriter Elliott Smith. Giannascoli—who now records and performs under the moniker (Sandy) Alex G, after another musician trademarked the name Alex G in late 2015—isn’t all that much like Smith, but his experimental pop does have a similarly cultish following.
For someone who’s only spent 24 years on this planet, he’s already pretty prolific. Giannascoli’s released seven full-length records, and was invited to play guitar on Frank Ocean’s new albums Endless and Blonde. But he’s hesitant to say much about his own music. In an interview with Bandcamp last month, Giannascoli addressed this caginess, citing his fear that learning the meaning behind songs could “destroy the mystery.”