''Hearts and Unicorns'' is the debut studio album by the American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Giant Drag Giant Drag is an American indie rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2003 by singer and guitarist Annie Hardy and drummer and keyboardist Micah Calabrese. After releasing their debut EP, '' Lemona'' in 2004, the band released their de ...

. It was released September 13, 2005 in the United States and February 27, 2006 in the United Kingdom by Kickball Records. It was the second release by the band after their debut EP ''

Lemona Lemoa ( es, Lemona) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. Sports in Lemoa * SD Lemona (Football) in ''Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second ...

'', released in 2004. The album's UK release and subsequent 2006 North American repressing include a cover of Chris Isaak's "

Wicked Game "Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak, released from his third album, '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). Despite being released as a single in July 1989, it did not become a hit until it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch ...

" as a bonus track.

Recording

''Hearts and Unicorns'' was recorded at Dirty Little Studios and Paramount Studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California in 2005. Regarding "Kevin Is Gay",

Annie Hardy Annie Summer Hardy (born June 5, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. She is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter of the indie rock band Giant Drag, which she formed in 2003. After releasing their debut EP, '' ...

stated: "Kevin is just a guy though, the song is nothing to do with him. But this guy, a friend of ours, hacked into our website, so it's a response to him. We posted up on there, 'Kevin, stop posting all this stupid crap on our website. Come and see us tomorrow when we'll be debuting our new song "Kevin is Gay"'. And the title just stuck." Hardy said in an interview that the clip at the beginning of the track is her imitating the sound of the

shoryuken , commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...

special move from the ''Street Fighter'' series of arcade games.

Critical reception

Jason Crock of '' Pitchfork'' awarded the album a 6.8 out of 10 rating, noting: "All these silly song titles and nearly frightening studio patter scratch the surface of something, the way the snippets on a record like '' Surfer Rosa'' add another layer of inscrutability, but monochromatic guitars overwhelm the album and mute the few moments of quirk." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Luiza Sauman awarded the album four out of five stars, describing it as a "heavenly, potty-mouthed mixture of My Bloody Valentine,

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

, and The Breeders... some songs you can give or take, but their promise always shines through." Sinéad Gleeson of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' also awarded the album four out of five stars, comparing it favorably to the work of

Throwing Muses Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originall ...

, My Bloody Valentine, and Mazzy Star, noting that the songs "view the rubbish heap of modern life through a distorted, shoegazing lens. Hardy sings, chain-smokes, plays guitar and bass, and writes the cruel, damaged-goods lyrics." A review published in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' likened the album to the works of

PJ Harvey Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined loca ...

, adding: "Giant Drag, shockingly but mainly pleasingly, are not just another pair of too-cool-for-school LA rock kids. Nor are they vacuous provocateurs. They're imaginative and playful." David Smyth of the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' gave the album a middling review, awarding it three out of five stars, noting that "Hardy has a way with an effects pedal and a wicked tongue... tracks such as "My Dick Sux" continue to give a false impression of the beauty within, although the exquisite "This Isn't It" suggests that when Hardy grows up she might write something really special." Alternative radio station 97X ranked the album at number 48 in a list of the 97 best albums of 2005. '' Dispatch-Argus'' journalist Sean Leary also included the album in his list of the best albums of the year.

Track listing

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from the album's liner notes. Giant Drag *

lead vocals, guitar , bass *Micah Calabresedrums,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, guitar Guest musicians * Joe Cardamone guitar , backing vocals *Louis Castleguitar , organ , trumpet , backing vocals *

Alvin DeGuzman The Icarus Line was an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, active from 1998 until 2015. Career 1998–2003 The Icarus Line's roots started from a high school rock group, Kanker Sores. Tragedy struck the band in 1997, when ...

guitar *

Don Devore Donald Willard Devore Jr. is an American artist and curator, known as Don Devore, who has been a member of the bands Ink & Dagger, Frail, Rain on the Parade, The Icarus Line, Lilys, Amazing Baby, Historics, Vague Angels, and Souls She Said, among ...

bass *Daniel Holdenbass *Gabe Garnicka

slide bass Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

, guitar , lap steel *

Sandra Vu Sandra Vu (also known as "Sandy Vu") is an American musician, singer and songwriter. Career Vu is the lead singer for her band Sisu, which she launched in 2009. Following the self-released 2009 ''Demon Tapes'' EP and 2010 single "Sharp Teeth", S ...

flute Engineering *James Barianproduction, bass *Alan Yoshidamastering *Ryan Castleproduction *

Dave Sardy David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning mo ...

production Art personnel *Annie Hardyart direction, illustrations *Dan Monickart direction, photography *Wendy Higgs A&R

References

{{Giant Drag 2005 debut albums Giant Drag albums Interscope Records albums