(Sandy) Alex G: House of Sugar [DOMINO]

Why you'll love it

This Domino LP comes with an MP3 download. House of Sugar placed 17th on Pitchfork's list of the best albums of 2019.

This edition

• Download card included

About the album

The Fader once called Alex Giannascoli "the internet's secret best songwriter," and by 2019 the secret was well and truly out. He'd built a following through Bandcamp, signed to Domino, and lent guitar and arrangements to Frank Ocean's Endless and Blonde. House of Sugar, his eighth album, came out under the (Sandy) Alex G name, with the Sandy meant to be silent; people kept pronouncing it anyway.

He recorded it in New York and at home in Philadelphia, producing it himself with extra help from Jacob Portrait. It drifts between hushed bedroom folk, warped electronics and big, bright choruses. "Gretel" is a sticky, stomping singalong, "Hope" is a gentle, aching tribute, and "Southern Sky" glows with warm harmony. "Walk Away" opens on a woozy haze, "Near" and "In My Arms" are as intimate as anything he's done, and the record closes with "SugarHouse (live)," a full-band roar captured at the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis.

He went on to score Jane Schoenbrun's films, including I Saw the TV Glow, and in 2020 dropped the "(Sandy)" from his name. The parentheses were always meant to be quiet; the record never was.

Also at Kops: more Alex G on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Domino (cat# WIGLP451), the 2019 album.