Robbie Gennet doesn’t like to make things easy on himself. Most artists would be happy to drop an album a year, but The Giver and the Thief is the second in a cycle of five long-players he is releasing over five months. Now that is impressive, especially in the modern musical world’s often glacial pace of release.
That said, it’s not like Robbie has just stumbled into this idea; last year he released a full ten-album cycle according to a similar plan, but nothing worth doing comes easy, and diamonds are only formed under the most intense pressure…cliches perhaps, but cliches are cliches for a reason!
But, of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating…sorry, I need to stop with the clichés… and sonically, The Giver and The Thief is a sumptuous feast for the ears, leaning into a more orchestrally-infused version of the sort of place that Randy Newman or Warren Zevon called home…which can’t be bad.
‘Alpha Mission’ literally launches the album: a cosmic adventure through the stars, the song’s energy levels building to reflect the rocket’s speed, its moods representing the physical power and the philosophical poignancy of such ventures. ‘Pretty Ugly’ is sonically charming and subtly chamber-poppy, but full of lyrical darkness and no small amount of musing on the nature of beauty, both actual and metaphysical.
‘Heart of the Night’ is sweeping and seductive; the title track is introspective and full of cascading sonic drama, and ‘Name of Love’ is full of grace and groove.
The Giver and the Thief would be an impressive creation if Gennett had, like most other musical creatives, spent the usual amount of time working on it, but the fact that almost as soon as the last echo of the album has drifted off into the horizon, its successor is coming over the horizon makes it a mind-boggling act of creativity…not to mention logistics, speaks volumes about the man’s work rate, creativity and dedication to his art.
