The release of Young the Giant’s sophomore album “Mind Over Matter” is two years in the making. They began drafting songs for the set at the top of 2012 in the midst of their headlining tour supporting their self-titled debut.
Their first album was a quiet success, slowly swelling to sales just under 300,000 units without the aid of a smash Hot 100 single. Still, cuts like “Cough Syrup” and “My Body” earned them fans that packed venues from coast to coast.
The crew stopped by Billboard’s New York studio to talk about their latest set, which came out last Tuesday (Jan. 21).
“The new songs are a lot more involved musically,” says Eric Cannata. “[There’s] a little bit more depth. You can tell there’s a partial departure on certain songs and certain songs can take you back to the first record. A lot of it is upbeat and more instrumentation.”
The band spent the bulk of the time recording “Matter” in Palos Verdes by the Pacific Ocean in California off on their own, “blocking out the expectation,” says lead singer Sammer Gadhia, “and reconnecting with the band that we were—jamming in garages in high school.”
You can hear the growth on “Crystalized,” a cut they performed for Billboard for the first time acoustically.
Ditto for the thoughtful, subtle “Firelight.” Watch the clip below.