Although many, many indie-rock luminaries have passed through the ledger of Giant Sand鈥檚 band members, including PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth鈥檚 Steve Shelly, Juliana Hatfield, Vicki Peterson of the Bangles and former Belle & Sebastian cellist and singer Isobel Campbell, this is not a supergroup or a jam band. It鈥檚 more of a busman鈥檚 holiday for musicians who want to kick back and let someone else be in charge for a while.
These, then, are the fully-realised and yet also scuffed country-folk-other visions of Howe Gelb, a prodigious songwriting talent who has steered his changeable band into recording 28 studio albums. This year鈥檚 Heartbreak Pass marks the band鈥檚 30th year of existence in typically unorthodox style. 6 Music鈥檚 Gideon Coe is a fan, as are Lauren Laverne and Elbow鈥檚 Guy Garvey, which, if nothing else, does throw up the possibility of still more musical signatures to add to that ledger before too much longer.
Although many, many indie-rock luminaries have passed through the ledger of Giant Sand鈥檚 band members, including PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth鈥檚 Steve Shelly, Juliana Hatfield, Vicki Peterson of the Bangles and former Belle & Sebastian cellist and singer Isobel Campbell, this is not a supergroup or a jam band. It鈥檚 more of a busman鈥檚 holiday for musicians who want to kick back and let someone else be in charge for a while.
These, then, are the fully-realised and yet also scuffed country-folk-other visions of Howe Gelb, a prodigious songwriting talent who has steered his changeable band into recording 28 studio albums. This year鈥檚 Heartbreak Pass marks the band鈥檚 30th year of existence in typically unorthodox style. 6 Music鈥檚 Gideon Coe is a fan, as are Lauren Laverne and Elbow鈥檚 Guy Garvey, which, if nothing else, does throw up the possibility of still more musical signatures to add to that ledger before too much longer.
