His eighth full-length overall,
Rocket arrives after a period of increased exposure for bedroom recordist and longtime self-releaser
Alex Giannascoli. Then going by
Alex G, he made his label debut (
DSU) in 2014, then signed with Domino Records, which released
Beach Music, an album that landed on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and made some high-profile best-of-2015 lists. R&B superstar
Frank Ocean then invited
Giannascoli to play on his 2016 LPs
Endless and
Blond. After announcing a rebranding to
(Sandy) Alex G a month before its release in May 2017,
Rocket follows these career markers with a perhaps surprising return to the self-produced, home-recorded method that made his reputation. He has remarked, though, that the experience with
Ocean made him more open to collaboration, and he's joined here by touring bandmembers, longtime guest vocalist
Emily Yacina, singer/violinist
Molly Germer, and more. What hasn't changed is
Giannascoli's genre-sampling approach, distinctively loose and intimate sound, and melodic inclinations.