Giant Drag
Waking Up Is Hard To Do

THE RETURN.

Annie is back. It's been quite a (...) while, and it seemed like she wouldn't return, but in the end, she did. It's been 7/8 particularly dramatic and chaotic years, 7/8 years during which we even risked losing her, but somehow, in a twist of fate, Annie made it through. Annie is here, Annie is with us. Damn, I don't know if you understand, if you grasp the magnitude of the thing: ANNIE IS BACK.

And you might be wondering: "And why, when did she leave...?" Or rather, even more logically, you might have asked another question: "But Annie WHO, for heaven's sake...?".

Annie Hardy, of course. Who else, indeed. The one behind the "project," as chaotic-tormented-troubled as she is, Giant Drag. For whom the term "independent" is an understatement. One who "makes music," as her regularly updated blog states, and of which I am a frequent visitor, "how and when she can." She plays it anywhere and anyhow, as the experiments on her rich YouTube channel prove. Music that takes a while to come out, but eventually does. Because she's one who makes you wait. Someone you shouldn't dare pressure. She has her own times and takes all of them.

Someone who less than 10 years ago spat out "one of the most unjustly forgotten albums of the past decade," as some insiders pointed out and as I MYSELF, for what it's worth, believe. It's "Hearts & Unicorns," ladies and gentlemen. Note this title down.

Someone who since 2006 or thereabouts has been telling the story that the well-known "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak was actually written by HER at the age of 8, only to be STOLEN from her by the handsome rocker-rebel after a few weeks of flirting... then, some time later, she turned on the TV and saw the video of HER song that was now a hit on screen, you can understand, she got really pissed off. But she got so pissed off that she decided she would show the world that she could really write songs, even sing them...

(in light of the aforementioned story, therefore, her version of the "Wicked Game" mentioned cannot be considered a cover...)

Someone that not even damn fibromyalgia and a psychopathic boyfriend managed to stop. And now, when everyone had given up ("yeah, right, just another indie comet like so many others...") here she returns.

And not only that: she's gone solo, in every sense. Now a "one-woman band" after the departure of the few/occasional collaborators, now "home & shop" after the birth of Full Psycho Records for which, self-produced, the present album came out some time ago - confirming, and we urgently needed it, the lazy, careless, and ragged talent of a young author in her own unique way, difficult to classify and label, although her references are declared: Jesus & Mary Chain (what a pride to support them years ago...), Weezer, Pavement, Blur, PJ Harvey, lo-fi in all its incarnations, and My Bloody Valentine - besides, she reminds me a lot of Bilinda from those times, both aesthetically and in her way of being on stage. And it's a good memory, as you can gather...

"Waking up is hard" and for Annie, even more than a waking, it's been a climb from the abyss. The cool product you'll listen to is a sweet-bitter symphony for her strange, alcoholic, and unconventionally melodic voice, full of irony and prickly lyrics - not new for someone who debuted singing "you fuck just like my father"...

...and beyond the rewarded waiting, "Waking Up" is my personal album of 2013, to be listened to and re-listened to in every detail: Annie knows how to write potential catchy, noisy, and sour hit-singles just the same - as proven by a piece like "Garbage Heart" which is hard to resist, with the chords of the first verse greatly quoting "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" and a nineties electric frenzy in the refrain. "We Like The Weather" proves it too, with its sticky retro organ-style Blondie melody, a background "ooh-la-la" and fuzz-laden guitar bursts. And "90210" proves it, which sounds like a Sheryl Crow 33 RPM played at 45...

And it would be a crime to miss the meows of "Meowch," with Annie turning into a cat and (thanks to her unique timbre) doing it very well, the 5 minutes of strident r'n'r "sui generis" in "Do It," and that sort of mournful and distorted calypso that is "Messif My Face." Which opens a second part of the album even more varied than the first: "Sobriety Is A Sobering Experience" is a self-irony on her troubles with the bottle, but also the T-Rex of Marc Bolan getting in the time machine to sour their boogie by modifying it with post-grunge sounds; "Heart Carl" the languid slow song we needed, "Seen The Light" the anthem to her existential rebirth, with the usual guitars but also a very scrappy gospel choir at the end, just to make it clear that "Lord, I've seen the light..."

P.S. With this chapter, Giant Drag closes its doors forever, while the birth of "Annie Hardy & The Psychos" is announced. Annie is back, Annie will return again...