Young the Giant - ACT I & II: ORIGINS & EXILE (2022) Hi-Res

Young the Giant have spent the past decade-plus crafting music that centers around complex struggles most experience at least once in our lives, and finding deeper meanings to life’s major questions — you know, the type of questions that help when tailoring one’s identity.
On their latest single, “Wake Up,” the longtime alt-rock band seems to be going beyond these narrative points, exploring a story past life itself. The bass-heavy song serves as a first glimpse of what will be the California quintet’s fifth studio album, American Bollywood.

“Wake Up” displays how much Young the Giant has evolved by incorporating sounds from Indian folk music, like the nagada drums that beat at the beginning of the song. Lead vocalist Sameer Gadhia says the sound was influenced by street musicians he heard on a trip to Rajasthan, India, in 2019.