Gilla Band return with Giraffe, their first new music in years

Gilla Band returned with Giraffe, giving the 28 May digest a heavy, noisy, industrial-strength indie-rock item. The Irish noise-rock group had been relatively quiet since touring 2022’s Most Normal, with only the 2023 standalone single Sports Day arriving in between. Giraffe changes that silence.

The track starts in grinding, sneering post-punk territory before exploding into a more thumping industrial-dance shape, underlining how much electronic pressure has always lurked inside Gilla Band’s noise. Frontman Dara Kiely described the song as coming from a scattered and lonely mental space, with the outro reaching toward the difficult idea that affection might exist even when it is hard to believe.

That emotional frame gives the track more than brute force. Gilla Band are at their best when the ugliness has a reason: anxiety, isolation, miscommunication and the body trying to shake itself free from mental static. The band also announced a long tour running through 2026 and into 2027. For a 28 May digest, Giraffe is one of the strongest current singles to carry forward. Source: https://pitchfork.com/news/gilla-band-reveal-new-song-and-tour-dates-through-2027/ ; Stereogum: https://stereogum.com/2500293/gilla-band-giraffe/music