GIGANTIC Phenomenal (Music For Nations)

"Phenomenal" is the genuinely impressive second single from this American (I think - more informative press releases please!) quartet. Strangely, despite rave notices from Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, Gigantic (yes, named after the Pixies tune!) actually plough an interesting furrow that’s half Rialto’s velour-upholstered theatrics and half Black Crowes’ rootsy blues metal - think of the last Suede album with Bert replaced by a proper vocalist and decent songs and you’d be almost home. This is no doubt due to the production duties - on the lead track at least - of Ed Buller (who has worked with Suede as well as Pulp and the currently transcendentally wonderful Spiritualized). "She’s From Heaven" is captained by Tim Palmer (producer of David Bowie, Pearl Jam, Tin Machine), which manages to lose much of the gentle beauty of the acoustic bedroom version of same which also appears here under a welter of big-trousered flash-rock clichés. What’s slightly worrying about Gigantic is that Music For Nations doesn’t seem like the, uh, ideal label for their many talents, and that their music is a little too susceptible to the generic stamp of a big-name producer, which will make their soon-to-be-released Palmer-produced debut album "Shiny Void" an interesting listen, rather than an immediate purchase. In the meantime the "Phenomenal" single is a groovy and varied 15 minutes of modern rock - go seek.