Headlights

Alex G

Released on 5/29/25 by Alex G - RCA Records
Main artists: Alex G
Genre: Alternative & Indie
Distinctions: Pitchfork: Best New Music

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When singer-songwriter Alex G (né Giannascoli) jumped from working with tiny, cassette-centric label Orchid Tapes—which released his beloved 2014 album DSU while he was still a student at Temple University—to indie stalwart Domino a decade ago, there was already a contingent of OG fans lamenting online what this meant for the bespoke feeling of his lo-fi work and East Coast house shows. Now that Giannascoli has well transcended IYKYK status and signed with RCA, his major label debut, Headlights, arrives with a fresh raft of '90s-style gatekeeping and hand-wringing. But the musician's tenth album is full of the wide-eyed weirdness and open-hearted charm that made Beach Music and Rocket and God Save the Animals endearing.

Powered by bongo and minor-chord melancholy, opener "June Guitar" glows like a summer night heavy with humidity and fireflies. "Far and Wide" transmits the ramshackle sweetness of a backyard theater production—Vince Guaraldi via Peanuts; the individual elements sound like they're speaking different languages (vocals overly earnest, strings varyingly fleet and lush), yet it coalesces. With a schoolkid-esque choir, jazzy beat and happy-sad piano, "Is It Still You in There?" taps into the same vibe. The lovely title track and "Spinning" both lean into the Elliott Smith comparisons that have followed Giannascoli throughout his career. (The latter is enriched by a strings section that includes his girlfriend and frequent collaborator Molly Germer, who also plays violin with Japanese Breakfast.)

"Afterlife" adopts a more energetic lilt and jangle, with its bright, R.E.M.-style mandolin; indeed, there's a clear ancestral throughline between Giannascoli and artists who mastered a melodic mix of sun and clouds. "Let me run on afterlife/ Filling up the tank with it," Giannascoli—32 and now a father—sings, already nostalgic. "Like a kid, I ran it past/ Rolling in the tiger grass." Heartachingly idyllic references to nature have long populated his work, and "Louisiana" slithers like a garden snake and softly buzzes like harmless insects. When he does apply machine-made samples and triggers, like on "Bounce Boy," the effect is still warm-blooded. And it's fun to hear Giannascoli stretch out and try something new, like on the Southern-rock thrust of "Logan Hotel (Live)." "I went out looking for a real thing," he sings on shuffling "Real Thing," treating the title words like they're fragile and precious. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Headlights

Alex G

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June Guitar