Stephen Wood formed The Battles in 1997 to record and perform his songs. The early incarnation of the band consisted of Wood, Scott Morgan (Loscil), Rob McBeth, Ted Hamilton and Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers, Swan Lake), though a concrete line-up would never come to be. The band released two albums, Lycanthropy in 2001, and Tomorrow's Eager Hands in early 2006, and remained mainly a studio project for Wood and whomever was available.
Following the release and acclaim given to Tomorrow's Eager Hands (which featured recordings from several years prior), Stephen Wood reemerged with a new batch of songs and a blistering new Battles line-up. Ted Hamilton returned to the fray, and was joined by John Margetts on bass, Clare Kenny (Eye Lickers) on Casio and Omnichord, and Jaret Penner (Precious Fathers) laying down a slow sizzle on his guitar. The band’s triumphant return to the Vancouver stage occurred on April 1, 2006. Soon thereafter Stephen Wood and The Battles retreated to the studio to record their third album, with John Collins and David Carswell at JC/DC Studios in Vancouver.
The new batch of songs took on a life of their own - the recordings yielded a sound never before achieved by The Battles. It became clear that The Battles moniker no longer served their purpose, and thus the band morphed into Giantess.
Giantess is an exercise in profundity. Veering wildly from accelerated rave-ups to introspective ballads that tug at the heart (often with tongue planted firmly in cheek), the blistering self-titled album is delivered with the poetic grandeur of Bryan Ferry or Graeme Downs at their absolute peak. The band has never sounded better. Hold on tight. |
