pencil’s ‘The Giant’ Is Bold, Uncompromising Artistry

London risers pencil have shared new single ‘The Giant’.

The band are led by Kamran Khan (aka Fake Laugh), a central figure joined by a coterie of musicians who cross between different disciplines. Having played a select batch of festivals across summer, pencil have just signed to Moshi Moshi, and will release their new single through the label’s overhauled singles club.

A remarkable, highly singular piece of music, new song ‘The Giant’ is framed by buzzsaw violin, each note more intense than the last. The central vocal has a real sense of theatre to it, with the band conjuring visions of everyone from Radiohead to Kate Bush, or perhaps aspects of latter Talk Talk.

Out there on their own, pencil will support The Japanese House this Autumn – seemingly, their live show has to be witnessed to be believed.

pencil comment…

“‘The Giant’ is a song about the pain of growth – growing up, growing apart, growing old. It started life with Coco’s violin. The whirlpool arpeggio immediately caught our ears and we started figuring out a chord sequence for the verse together. The idea sat as a voice memo for a few days before one rare morning, when all the lyrics were written in one sitting. We then arranged the song as a band before recording it live with Polly Mackey aka Artschool Girlfriend at Goldsmiths University.” 

Tune in now.