I'm normally not one for anti-folk. Too much of the time, it sounds
overpraised and pretentious to me, as if the artists in question are
trying their hardest not to try, and then being lauded for it
ironically. But for some reason, I love the debut EP from
Giant Hand.
Or at least I think it's his debut EP. He also has an EP for sale on iTunes via
his Myspace,
but there's only one or two songs overlapping between the two albums.
Not that it really matters. I'm sure that regardless of which album you
end up getting from him, it'll sound basically the same, with Giant
Hand (otherwise known as Kirk Ramsay) singing in his off-key,
off-kilter voice over top of a simply-strummed, slightly out-of-tune
guitar, with the most lo-fi recording imaginable.
Those aren't meant to be negative descriptors, mind you. Given that
Ramsay only picked up a guitar for the first time at the beginning of
the year (and started writing his own songs when he decided that it
would be simpler to do that than to learn other people's), his lack of
ability is honestly come by, not a put on...which, really, makes it
kind of endearing. Similarly, Ramsay knows how to turn his weak voice
into an asset; when he sings a line like "Oh, my stomach's full of
bumblebees / And they eat everything that I eat / And my life is full
of sin / Look at the trouble I got myself in" (in "
You're No Son of Mine"),
he's able to fill it with so much passion that it takes on a weird kind
of meaning. And, of course, it just wouldn't sound right if it had any
sort of studio gloss to it. It's simple, gritty stuff, and I've no
doubt that some people will hate it (like, for example, my girlfriend).
But in all honesty, it's still worth checking out, since Giant Hand
might just be the most interesting, unique and exciting artists to come
out of Ottawa in a very long time.
- www.iheartmusic.net