Delving into the Great American Songbook of Howe Gelb, ‘Sandworms: The Songs of Howe Gelb and Giant Sand’ (out 15th August) is a new collection that rephrases and rephases their legacy. This release offers new perspectives from Water From Your Eyes, Deradoorian, Jesca Hoop & John Parish, Lily Konigsberg, Holiday Ghosts, Ella Raphael, Monde UFO, The Golden Dregs and Gently Tender.
The ever-present Giant Sand and their one-man cerebral traveller, Howe Gelb, are anchored by a reputation for idiosyncratic storytelling. A “natural storyteller,” Gelb’s multifarious musical delivery adds an enduring sense of wonder as he extols the virtues of happenstance. This collection celebrates the esoteric and singular journey Giant Sand have taken, through alt-country, jazz, lo-fi experiments, and beyond, while their music is reimagined here by a new generation of artists paying tribute to their lasting influence.
Brooklyn duo, Water From Your Eyes known for their stoner humour with a hazy undercurrent of fatalism and a verve for art-pop, bring a delicate balance between punk riffing and dream pop escapism on ‘Warm Storm’ – a tune first heard on Giant Sand’s ‘Ramp’ (1991).
‘Happenstance’ (from 1994’s ‘Glum’) with its consequential questioning of our state of mind is the kind of nagging puzzle that any Canadian baritone with the burr of Leonard Cohen would marvel at; Whitney K do just that, whispering sweet somethings in your ear. “This rendition came together like happenstance — right place, right time. Howe reached out across the void with a song to be sung. We humbly obliged and like serpents made it our own.” adds Konner
Similarly, out there, in an orbiting capsule, Angel Deradoorian chose Giant Sand’s ‘Center Of The Universe’, the title track from the 1992 album to explore, re-interpreting the band’s “desert-fried” rock into a spaced-out piece of Sun Ra-paced drama.
As we spiral on, you realise that we’re already deep into strange territory as the blur of sentimentality and relationship mismanagement are unfurled on the jaw dropping ‘Yer Ropes’ from 1994’s ‘Glum’ which is taken on by The Golden Dregs.
The mellow romanticism in Lily Konigsberg’s interpretation of ‘Shiver’ (‘Chore Of Enchantment’, 2000) has a shimmering ambience that becomes a halo of dreamy sensuality as words tumble into each other and emotions wander free.
Across the continent, riding high on their own monochromatic journey, LA’s Monde UFO strip Howe’s ‘Who Am I?’ to its bare bones, revealing an aching symphony that first originated on 1980’s ‘Ballad Of A Thin Line Man’ with all its lonesome and out of mind other worldliness.
Howe Gelb’s songs throw up angles and tangents, lop-sided worldviews and all kinds of possibilities as Ella Raphael discovered when she came across ‘A Hard Man To Get To Know’. “Giant Sand is a mood…” Howe famously retorted sometime, some place, guess Ella got that.
Elsewhere Gently Tender tackled with their version of ‘Forever And A Day’ from ‘Tucson’ (2022) is a song that has two halves followed by a reprise of the first half, no less. Whilst Holiday Ghosts overflow with the kind of DIY punk spirit on ‘New River’ that Sir Howe Of Gelb would be proud of.
A special collection for long-time fans and the new, ‘Sandworms: The Songs of Howe Gelb and Giant Sand’ will be released on 15th August on Fire Records and will be available on classic black vinyl.
Featuring Water From Your Eyes, Deradoorian, Jesca Hoop & John Parish, Lily Konigsberg, Holiday Ghosts, Ella Raphael, Monde UFO, The Golden Dregs and Gently Tender
“In search of treasured happenstance, Howe Gelb is an enigma, an inspiration and some kind of genius”
The Quietus
