Naked Giants - Shine Away
3.8
Flyctory.com Pros
- Versatile, enjoyable album
- Nice rock music blending
Flyctory.com Cons
- Some weaker songs
The band Naked Giants celebrate their tenth band anniversary this year. What would be a better way to share the happiness than a new album? Shine Away is their third full release It has been released on 4th October 2024.
Naked Giants – About The Artists
Naked Giants is an indie-rock trio from Seattle in the United States. The three members are Grant Mullen (vocals, guitar), Gianni Aiello (bass, vocals) and Henry LaVallee (drums). Mullen and LaVallee already known since pre-school years. They started major releases with the EP R.I.P.. in 2016. Three years later, there was another EP, Green Fuzz. On the album side, there are two publications, SLUFF (2018) and The Shadow (2020).
Naked Giants – Shine Away – Track by Track
The nine track album lasts 33 minutes.
1. Apartment 3
The opener feels likely a nicely strumming rocker, before sudden breaks emphasize the indie character of the music of Naked Giants. The song feels rougher, more distorted, but thereby does not loose that much of a touch. It has a special, unique touch, which I definitely appreciate.
2. Missed Out
The second song on Shine Away is a previously unreleased one. Missed Out is catching with hard, hammering riffs, especially at the beginning of the track and around the chorus. The song itself has a rather melancholic style, which leads to certain contrast. There are some nice elements in it – but this one just cannot reach the same level as Apartment 3.
3. Bad Guys Win
The single release Bad Guys Win is one of two songs, which are shorter than three minutes. The song starts rather slow and clearly focuses on singer Grant Mullen, before the instrumentalists leave a more present statement in the brief chorus. The plot of this song feels a bit of sluggish, but it definitely also has a nice touch. Like in the song before, the US-Americans sprinkle some easy, almost childish elements, which leads to a smile in my face during the listen.
4. Half Full Cups
Half Full Cups opens a set of three new songs on the 2024 Naked Giants album. This fourth track of the record is having a stronger indie-touch again, but also reminds of the slow, melancholic style of the opener. I feel it is a good ft to the setup of the band and the voice of their frontman.
5. Dissolve
Disscolve, the song right in the middle of Shine Away, goes for a faster pace than most of the songs before. Together with the joyful melody, this leads to a very different energy than in the songs before. Despite its long duration of over five minutes, the song strikes with a good plot and interesting vibes.
6. Oh Michael
With less than three minutes, the following Oh Michael is one of the more compact songs of the album. Some guitar tunes remind me of surf rock. But finally, the indie-style distortion prevent me from looking for my sunbath clothing. This does definitely not mean that I don’t enjoy the listen.
7. Did I Just Die
The third Shine Away single already released is Did I Just Die. The song is rather on the experimental side and works with synth elements as well as present and rough rock sounds. This leads to another virtuous and interesting listen.
8. Case Of The Bastards
On the second last track of Shine Away, Case Of The Bastards, the Naked Giants take us on another rather longer musical trip. The band invests quite a lot of time into instrumental parts, and overall presents a rather versatile, interesting plot. A good listen.
9. Shine Away
The title track takes the honorable task closing the Shine Away album. The chucker-out presents gentle melodies which even have a slight folk-rock touch. Definitely another flavor in this set of tracks.
Naked Giants – Shine Away – Spotify
Here is the album on Spotify:
Naked Giants – Shine Away – My View
The West Coast trio Naked Giants show a wide range of songs for their tenth band anniversary. Not all songs really strike, but overall, it is a nice and enjoyable set of songs. Shine Away misses the top ratings, but is a solid listen.
Favorite Song: Dissolve
2023 USA Rock Music Reviews
Here are all my Media Reviews published in 2023 related to the USA and rock music:
Uncle Lucius – Like It’s The Last One Left
The press kit to Like It's The Last One Left starts with the words Second chances are rare in rock 'n' roll ...
Treaty Oak Revival – Have a Nice Day
Especially during the last weeks, I ran into a lot of album and EP releases, which in fact just contained ...
Todd Snider – Crank It, We’re Doomed
The press kit of this album, Crank It, We're Doomed by Todd Snider compares the artist with Prince and Neil Young ...
Chris Stapleton – Higher
When I reviewed Chris Stapleton's studio album Starting Over in 2020, I already mentioned that I was really surprised that it ...
D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings – Sophomore
What could be a better name for your second album than simply naming it Sophomore? That's what Nick D'Virgilio, Neal Morse ...
Robert Finley – Black Bayou
Robert Finley has a quite remarkable career. Born in 1954, he spend most of his life as a semi-professional artist, ...
The Gaslight Anthem – History Books
It is quite a while (and two breakups) ago, since we had the opportunity to listen to a new album ...
Chris Shiflett – Lost At Sea
The Foo Fighters' guitarist is doing solo music again: on 20th October 2023, Chris Shiflett is releasing Lost At Sea ...
Israel Nash – Ozarker
Ozarker is already the seventh studio album of the US-American musician Israel Nash. I already liked the predecessor Topaz, so ...
The Steel Woods – On Your Time
The Steel Woods are back! Some two years after their lovely album All Of Your Stories, they release a new ...
Soccer Mommy – Karaoke Night EP
Soccer Mommy is a somehow memorable artist name, ain't it? I don't know if she has kids and if they ...
Thirty Seconds To Mars – It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day
Despite they are looking back to a quarter of a century of band history, Thirty Seconds To Mars are just ...
Low Cut Connie – Art Dealers
In October 2020, I reviewed the album Private Lives by the US-American artist Low Cut Connie. Almost three years later, the project ...
Durry – Suburban Legend
You did not know the band Durry? Me neither, before I ran into their debut full length album, Suburban Legend. The ...
Mammoth WVH – Mammoth II
You might not know the the rock / hard rock project Mammoth WVH yet. However, once you know that WVH ...
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real – Sticks and Stones
Lukas Nelson and his band Promise of the Real (or short: POTR) are back. The famous son of Willie Nelson ...
1476 – In Exile
It took the duo 1476 six years to release a new album. The US-American project publishes In Exile on 7th July ...
Lucinda Williams – Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart
Lucinda Williams' albums are not as frequently reviewed in here as the ones of Finland's metal monsters Lordi. However, the ...
Ayron Jones – Chronicles Of The Kid
Chronicles Of The Kid is a typical Flyctory.com album review. I scanned new releases in a promotion platform and stopped by ...
Hannah Aldridge – Dream of America
Hannah Aldridge? You might not have heard too much of this artist, even though she has already released her third ...
Steve Lukather – Bridges
One of the most memorable moments of 2023 so far to me has been being at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto ...
Deer Tick – Emotional Contracts
Deer Tick from New England is having a very characteristic blend of genres. The US-Americans haven't released some new album ...
Extreme – Six
In 1991, there was a band from Boston who stormed the international charts with a song: More Than Words. Extreme released ...
Ron Pope – Inside Voices
If my sources and counting are right, Inside Voices is already the 17th studio album by Americana-pop/rock artist Ron Pope. This ...
Parker Millsap – Wilderness Within You
After far more than one thousand Media Reviews on Flyctory.com, more and more artists are recurring. I very often enjoy ...
Dave Hause – Drive It Like It’s Stolen
Provided by a music promoter, I ran into the album by US-American artist Dave Hause. On 28th April, he is ...
Dirty Heads – Midnight Control Sessions: Night 2 EP
Founded in 2006, the Dirty Heads are really a constant part of the US music scene. They just have released ...
The Wood Brothers – Heart is the Hero
The Wood Brothers have learned to trust their hearts. For the better part of two decades, they've cemented their reputation ...
Welshly Arms – Wasted Words & Bad Decisions
Due to Good Friday on the 7th April 2023, quite some bands shift their releases in that week by one ...
The Hold Steady – The Price of Progress
The Hold Steady is celebrating their twentieth anniversary this year. Wouldn't there be a better way of celebrating than releasing ...
John Diva & The Rockets of Love – The Big Easy
They recorded songs like Bling Bling Marilyn or Drip Drip Baby - and I simply love them. I ran into John Diva & ...
The Nude Party – Rides On
The third album by The Nude Party: on 10th March 2023, the US-American band releases Ride On. I already had ...
Manchester Orchestra – The Valley of Vision EP
Manchester Orchestra are soon about to celebrate their 20th band anniversary. The indie-rock band has quite a large number of ...
Lucero – Should’ve Learned by Now
Another Lucero review: some one year ago, I fell in love with When You Found Me by the Memphis-origin band, which ...
Black Star Riders – Wrong Side of Paradise
Wrong Side of Paradise is actually the second Black Star Riders album I share with you on Flyctory.com In September 2019, ...
Iggy Pop – Every Loser
New tunes by Iggy Pop: the punk legend released a new album on 6th January 2022. I have definitely been ...
Anti-Flag – Lies They Tell Our Children
How could the music year 2023 start better than with with music from my beloved hockey hometown Pittsburgh? Anti-Flag are ...
Top Pick! Technical Museums
Here are all my technical museum reviews, which have been assigned a Top Pick! rating:
Palm Springs Air Museum
Apart from having an outstanding Douglas C-47 flight experience with them, I was also really curious about the Palm Springs ...
Wheels of Yesteryear (Myrtle Beach)
The excellent reviews of Wheels of Yesteryear made me put this place on my bucket list for Myrtle Beach. I ...
San Diego Automotive Museum
Balboa Park in San Diego hosts numerous attractions. The most famous one is likely the San Diego Zoo, which I ...
Atomic Museum Las Vegas
A musieum about nuclear power and atomic bombs? Sounds like a place which is either a great scientific one - ...
Mercedes-Benz Museum Stuttgart
Germany is famous for its car manufacturers. With Porsche and Mercedes, Stuttgart is likely one of the key cities car ...
Cyprus Historic and Classic Motor Museum
Cyprus is full of historic museums, excavation sites and touristic attractions. Why should you care about cars when you are ...
Count’s Kustoms Showroom Las Vegas
Honestly, when my wife and I visited the Count's Kustoms Showroom in Las Vegas, we just had very little knowledge ...
Wernigerode Aviation Museum (Luftfahrtmuseum)
Wernigerode being located right North of the Harz mountains might not be the most obvious location for an aviation museum ...
Flying the Douglas C-47 Skytrain at Palm Springs Air Museum
I love historic planes and explore the feeling of flying in a historic manner. For example, I am really happy ...
Gatwick Aviation Museum
Being in Crawley near Gatwick Airport (LGW) by rental car gave me the opportunity to visit the Gatwick Aviation Museum ...
Arabia Steamboat Museum
The Arabia steamboat is something like what the Vasa is for European ship history (just dated a few centuries later...). The side ...
Henri Tudor Museum (Rosport, Luxembourg)
No, this place is not about The Tudors. Henri Owen Tudor might not be in scope of some of you, but ...
Andorra National Automobile Museum
Despite just being in the little country for less than 48 hours, I ran into some very interesting sights and ...
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Especially as a German aviation enthusiast, being on board of an aircraft carrier is just a cool experience again and ...
Lane Motor Museum (Nashville)
When you think about Nashville, you think about country music, partying and music-related attractions like the Country Music Hall of ...
American Space Museum (Titusville)
During my trip following the Weird Al Yankovic 2022 Tour in Florida, I also passed the East Coast of the ...
Dutch Railway Museum Utrecht
The website states that the Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum (also: Het Spoowegmuseum) is the best train station in the Netherlands. In fact, the ...
Umberto Panini Collection Motor Museum
During my most recent trip to the Emilia Romagna, I also visited the Umberto Panini Collection Motor Museum. Yeah, it ...
German Rail Museum (DB Museum) Nuremberg
Especially when I visit large places for Flyctory.com, which give me a lot of memories - and pictures - I ...
Takis Pattichis Museum of Industrial Pharmacy (Limassol)
I love unique places, weird locations - and even mark them by the Flyctory Obscura tag - The more I ...
Phänomenta Lüdenscheid
Lüdenscheid in the Sauerland region of Germany, Southeast of Dortmund, might not be on the top of the list when ...
German Röntgen Museum Remscheid
The museum at the Schwelmer Straße 41 is not exactly at birthplace of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen - but it is just a ...
Ystafell Auto Museum (Iceland)
Despite the country as such is rather small (measured by the number of people, not by area), Iceland has some ...
Polish Aviation Museum (Krakow)
One of the largest aviation museums of the world is in fact located in Krakow, Poland. Thus, it was not ...
Icelandic Aviation Museum (Akureyri)
Flugsafn Islands - or the Icelandic Aviation Museum - has of course been a attraction I just could not miss while ...
Halton County Radial Railway / Streetcar Museum
During my trip to Canada right after the borders have been opened again in September 2021, I visited a very ...
Museum of The Story of Alfa Romeo
Even though people might initially think about Lamborghini and Ferrari when it comes to Italian sports car, Alfa Romeo is ...
Sharjah Off Road History Museum
National Emirati people love cars - and if they are close to the reigning families, they are typically also rather ...
Deutsches Museum Traffic Center (Verkehrszentrum)
The Deutsches Museum (literally: "German Museum") is an amazing technical and scientific museum in the heart of Munich. While I just did ...
Automobile & Toy Museum North Sea (Norden, Germany)
During a trip to the German North Sea shore in later 2021, we also visited the Automobil- & Spielzeugmuseum Nordsee. The ...
Porsche Museum Stuttgart
The region of Stuttgart is one of the key car manufacturing areas of Germany. Thus, it has been not too ...
Lokwelt Freilassing
The Lokwelt Freilassing is one of the most famous train museums in Germany. During a trip through Bavaria, I had ...
Jet Age Museum Gloucester
The Gloster Aircraft Company (the original name has been Gloucestershire Aircraft Company) has been active from 1917 to 1961. The most ...
German Spy Museum Berlin
Hauptstadt der Spione - "Capital of the Spies". This is a book, which you can buy at the souvenir store of ...
Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization
In quite some postings about the emirate North of Dubai, I already stated how much I value and enjoy the ...
Auto & Traktor Museum Bodensee (Lake Constance)
From outside, the Auto & Traktor Museum Bodensee ("Car and Tractor Museum") at Lake Constance looks like a traditional old farm ...
Schleusenpark Waltrop-Henrichenburg – History of Naval Locks
Ship lifts are one of the most fascinating technical constructions to me. Being able to move ships like in an ...
German Oil Museum Wietze
If you think about oil producing countries, you may think about the USA or the United Arab Emirates. In fact, ...
Enzo Ferrari House Museum Modena
The place where the story of the famous (typically) red cars started? Walking on the routes of the Ferrari company ...
ESO Supernova Munich – Garching
Professional stargazing: The European Southern Observatory, short ESO is a collaboration of multiple European countries to gather astronomic forces on the ...
Marconi Automotive Museum & Foundation
A museum with an amazing collection of luxury and top-class racing cars, driven for the cause of charity. This is ...
Bergisches Museum for Mining, Craft & Trade Bensberg
The story why I felt I had to visit the Bergisches Museum für Bergbau, Handwerk und Handel - the Bergisches ...
Lyon Air Museum Santa Ana
In February 2020, I visited a lovely aviation museum in Santa Ana, Greater Los Angeles: the Lyon Air Museum is ...
Siku & Audi-Museum Höing (Stadtlohn, Germany)
A museum with 90 vintage cars and so-called Yountimers might not feel to thrilling. If you add that about half of ...
Computer History Museum (Mountain View CA)
What would a visit to the Silicon Valley be without at least visiting one computer museum? Duing my February 2020 ...
Museum Prototyp Hamburg
The marketing flyer of the Museum Prototyp in Hamburg is really self-confident. The name of the car history museum is not ...
USS Requin – A Submarine in Pittsburgh
I already presented you my review of Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. As its key attraction is that special, I ...
Louwman Museum The Hague
The Louwman collection, nowadays driven by the son of founder Pieter Louwman, Evert, is a private collection of oldtimer cars ...
Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg
What is Germany's most popular tourist attractions? According to many popular rankings including TripAdvisor, it is neither the Brandenburg Gate ...
Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen
Aviation fans likely first think about the zeppelins when it comes to Friedrichshafen, Germany. However, the city is also home ...
HomeComputerMuseum Helmond (Netherlands)
A museum for home computers feels like a technical reflection of my biography. I personally started with an Atari 800 ...
Pinball Hall of Fame (Las Vegas)
Las Vegas offers entertainment for everybody. One of the places which I love most in the city is definitely the Pinball ...
Zeppelin Museum Meersburg
Air ship and zeppelin flights / flight history is a quite popular part of a visit at Lake Constance. In ...
Nelson, Nevada – A Ghost Town
I am not too much of a casino person. However, I love being in Las Vegas as it is also ...
De Havilland Aircraft Museum (London Colney)
The De Havilland company is a huge name in the aviation history, especially regarding British aviation history. Close to the ...
Arithmeum Bonn – A Museum about Calculations
A Calculation Museum? Sounds like a place for die-hard nerds - but the Arithmeum in Bonn is really a popular ...
Sharjah Al Mahatta Historic Airport Museum
If you look at the mega-airport of Dubai International nearby, it is hard to believe that Sharjah once was the ...
Titanic Belfast
I am sure you know all the details (non-fictional and dramatic ones) about the tragic end of the RMS Titanic ...
Flugausstellung Peter Junior (Hermeskeil)
The next cities around are Trier, Sankt Wendel or Idar-Oberstein - the small city of Hermeskeil could be seen as ...
Madrid Railway Museum
Not just due to my favorite flight with LATAM from Frankfurt to the Spanish capital, I love being in Madrid ...
Platform 0 Chamberí – A Madrid Metro Ghost Station
If you use the Madrid Metro Line 1 between Bilbao and Iglesia, you will likely notice that you pass another ...
National Emergency Services Museum Sheffield
Ever dreamed of becoming a fire fighter or a policeman? Maybe the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield is the ...
Alte Dombach Paper Mill
Bergisch Gladbach, a 110,000 inhabitant city East of Cologne, is a traditional location for the production of paper. While nowadays, ...
Speyer Technology Museum
After I visited the Sinsheim sister museum in February, I have been very curious about visiting the Speyer Technology Museum ...
Emirates National Auto Museum
The area feels like nomansland in the desert - but when you take a 30 minute Southbound drive from Abu ...
A Day at Sinsheim Technology Museum
Located quite prominently right at the motorway A6 at Sinsheim (home of the TSG Hoffenheim soccer club), the Technik Museum ...