Is it still cool to be inspired by The Beatles? The recent resounding success of The Beatles documentary Get Back has probably answered that question. So, it is still no wonder that bands and solo artists from around the world are bringing us some great, and some not-so-great Beatles-inspired music.
Still, along with the question of whether that Beatles-inspired music is any good, one other question should pop up; is it just a simple re-hash of sounds we heard before, or are there any other elements brought in that will make such music sound fresh and inspiring?
At this point, in comes one Gia Iashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia (no, not that Georgia, the one nestling in the eastern parts of the European continent), who also goes under the moniker of Sky Diving Penguins and his recently released debut album.
Actually, a while back Iashvili came up with an EP that has reached quite a number of interested ears outside his native country, but for reasons not really known he was missing in action until recently. Or you can go along with the story on his site that says that “one rumor has it that Gia had a moment of clarity. Whilst waiting for V2 to give the thumbs up, Gia, a sometime Hayao Miyazaki devotee, decamped to Japan, whereupon he set about learning cinematography. Unfortunately, whilst practicing Kyudo one day, an errant arrow struck his left ear leaving him deaf in that particular ear.”
Whatever were the reasons for his absence from music, the wait for his debut album is actually quite worthwhile. Along with his extensive collection of all things The Beatles, Iashvili has obviously had a keen ear to any kind of music that involves a great melody and how to incorporate it into some exquisite pop music, be it late Elliot Smith, more complex structures like Radiohead, or eternal pop jokers Ween.
Yet it is not just Iashvili’s keen ear that has a role here, but an even better sense of how to combine the sounds he loves into something musically substantial and worth listening to. And Sky Diving Penguins’ debut album is certainly worth listening to. Quite a number of times.
