Track By Track: Joan & the Giants Break Down Debut EP 'Me & You'

Joan & the Giants‘ lead vocalist Grace Newton-Wordsworth describes the band’s debut EP, Me & You, as a collection of “deeply personal songs that capture moments shared by two people.” The five-song release revolves around themes of love, rebellion and heartbreak. “To me they are all songs that share vulnerable moments that we’ve personally gone through in the last few years,” says Newton-Wordsworth.

Newton-Wordsworth and her band mates, guitarist and co-songwriter Aaron Birch, drummer Riley Sutton and bass player Liam Olsen, embrace pop production on Me & You while retaining some of the full-band heaviness that featured on their earlier singles. Here, Newton-Wordsworth breaks down the EP, track by track.

Joan & the Giants: Me & You

The Weekend

We wanted to open with ‘The Weekend’ as it definitely showcases the emotion and bigger pop production we’ve been working towards. This one is really exciting to us. We love the rebellious and large nature of it and the lyrics always hit home for us and still sum up how we feel about life now: “Don’t wanna live for the weekend honey.”

Slow Motion

I love how ‘The Weekend’ fades into something slower and simpler. ‘Slow Motion’ was written about one moment in time between two people alone on a dance floor, where the world fades out and you only see that one person. It’s really beautiful to me that it goes from a song that is big and heavier to something quiet and stripped back, and it kind of brings me back in to listen to the lyrics and be drawn into that moment.

Hardest Part

This song was my first ever co-write with someone who is not Aaron. The song started with Matt Camerano and Dylan Ollivierre, our producer, and when I heard it I just fell in love with the lyrics and how the song felt.

This is definitely a heartbreak anthem for me. The lyric, “The hardest part of living is knowing whether I’m supposed to hold on or let go,” sums up so many heartbreaks and rocky relationships. Do you stay holding onto someone or do you let them go? This song really hits a lot of emotion for me and the vocal is basically just one take, as I wanted it to be raw and authentic to how I was feeling.

Home Song

This is my favourite song on the EP. It means so much to myself and Aaron as it holds a lot of connection to home and to our relationship. I’ll never forget, we had a pointless fight over nothing – most likely the dishes – and the next day he found out his beautiful nan was in the hospital and he needed to fly to Broome to say goodbye.

This moment definitely taught us not to take anything for granted and hold the ones you love close. When he left, it hit me that I just wanted to be there for him and take some of the pain away. So I wrote this song as a love letter just to say that he is my home and I will always be there.

Centerfold

This song was so much fun to write as it’s based on my own memories and it’s all true. My favourite line is, “We’re like Jack and Sally walking through the haunted night.” I wrote this because Aaron has an obsession with ‘I Miss You’ by Blink 182 and he wants to get Jack and Sally tattooed on his arm. So it’s a little personal moment in there.

This song is just about two people who have gone through a lot of shit, but will always have each other at the end of the day. I love the whole concept of “There’s a place that only we go, secrets hidden past the front door.” It’s a bit exciting to me and it always brings back some butterflies.