Greens is the musical vehicle for the songwriting of  Alex Brooks. A veteran of the Albany music scene as both a drummer and a bass-player, Alex decided to step out from the sideman role and embrace the limelight. Alex’s self-titled, debut EP is out tomorrow through Five Kill Records, and today we’re premiering the second single from it, Bigger.

Bigger is, in some ways Greens’ most immediate moment; as with acts like Local Natives or Horse Thief, Green seems to walk the line between American traditionalism and the more experimental and noisy edges of country-rock.  Bigger bounces in on a lithe, almost Eels like guitar-riff, before shifting rapidly into almost free-form noise, as loosely hammered piano, tremulous guitar wailing and contrastingly solid military-style drums, create an imposing wall of sound.

Lyrically, the track seems to be a constant battle between growth and self-congratulation, the first half of the song seems positive, Alex is moving on, getting so much better all the time, yet somehow as he spends the second half almost repeating, “I feel so much bigger now”, it gets less convincing every time. As Alex’s voice seems to recede into the tumultuous noise around him, it feels almost as if his mantra, “I feel so much bigger now”, is more an attempt to cling onto that feeling, holding onto those words, clinging on to the positive for fear of where the opposite thoughts might take him.

Much of Greens’ EP was written in complete isolation, Alex working through his own personal demons and traumas the only way he knew how. Yet on record, those intimate beginnings are cased in a full brand approach, inspired as much by the instrumental excess of The Band or The Grateful Dead as he is by any acoustic troubadour. The result is an album that feels intimate and expansive, a loud rambunctious and deeply personal triumph.

Greens’ self-titled EP is out May 3rd via Five Kill Records. Click HERE for more information on Greens.