Dopo trent’anni di onorata carriera i Giant Sand si sciolgono. Lo comunica il frontman Howe Gelb con una nota che sembra una poesia:
“30 years of giant sand
way back when it seemed like a long spans. but no. just a blink of the eye.
the flutter of the lid seems like it’s in a slow-motion wow, but any motion is in fast-forward compared to still life.
albums live on a shelf like a still life collection collecting decades and dust.
what do we have here, collectively speaking ? musings set to motion. here in rewind and some in fast forward.
we know there’s no comfortable category to place it all. perhaps because there is no categorical comfort.
the forefathers of this output have been set in rock: david bowie, john lennon, jimi hendrix, bob dylan and neil young.
the forefathers set in ivory are probably responsible for what’s coming next.
but as far as rock erosion is concerned, with this collection of mega dust, this giant sand, it’s high time to call it a day.
30 years seems an adequate number to aptly utter “I kinda quit”. there’s plenty enough here. more than imaginable.
i’m very eager to see what the next blink will bring. piano for now. songs forever.
so here’s to the next 30 years of plunk rock. a circle of fifths in black and white blur. getting on a plane with no guitar bag slung. maybe a hat. .. bolo tie too.
thank you so very much for your participation in all of this. I will never thank you enough because I can’t.
we are a fabric. a stitch in time. sonic threads woven by our space age muses.”
Prima di chiudere definitivamente il sipario, la band americana si imbarcherà in un tour commemorativo, che per ora non toccherà l’Italia. Come si legge sopra, Gelb proseguirà la carriera da solo, utilizzando il pianoforte per accompagnare le canzoni. In più l’etichetta Fire Records sta per pubblicare un triplo box in vinile intitolato The Sun Set, che raccoglierà gran parte delle canzoni pubblicate dalla band. Fra gli altri artisti che hanno collaborato con il gruppo di Tucson, John Convertino e Joey Burns (oggi nei Calexico), Neko Case, Juliana Hatfield, PJ Harvey, Vic Chesnutt, Steve Wynn e Isobel Campbell.
Vi lasciamo con il video di Yer Ropes, tratto dall’album Glum del 1994.