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When Young the Giant takes the stage at Ascend Amphitheater on June 27, Nashville fans will hear more than a collection of new songs. They’ll hear the result of a band intentionally slowing down, reconnecting with one another, and rediscovering the joy of making music together.
Ahead of the show, Nashville.com spoke with lead guitarist Eric Cannata about the band’s upcoming album, their creative process, and why the themes of empathy and human connection have become more important than ever.
The last time Nashville.com caught Young the Giant was at Bonnaroo in 2012. A lot has changed since then.
“Different phase in life,” Cannata laughed. “A lot of the guys have young children now. We’ve been touring, living life, spending time with family. That time away is important.”
While many artists feel pressure to constantly release new music, Cannata believes growth often happens between albums.
“I think time is crucial for artists,” he said. “We live in such a fast-paced world where we’re inundated with new music and new content every day. Sometimes you need time to live life and find new inspiration.”
That inspiration came during a series of songwriting retreats outside Los Angeles, where the band intentionally stepped away from everyday distractions.
For this project, Young the Giant rented studios in two dramatically different California landscapes: the desert surroundings of Joshua Tree and the mountain forests of Idyllwild.
“We wanted to be in the room together again,” Cannata explained. “It was really a return to form.”
Unlike traditional Nashville songwriting sessions where a completed idea is often brought into the room, Young the Giant’s approach was far more collaborative.
“We’d just be tinkering in the studio,” he said. “If something sparked excitement—a drum beat, a lyric idea, a synth sound, a vocal melody—we’d chase it.”
The goal was simple: stop overthinking.
“We tried to write very intuitively,” Cannata said. “That was a big part of making this album. We wanted to combat our tendency to overthink things.”
The change in scenery proved equally important. The desert skies of Joshua Tree created a completely different creative energy than the snowy forests surrounding Idyllwild.
“Even just looking out the window changes your mindset,” Cannata said. “The landscapes absolutely influenced the writing.”
The result is an album built around a central theme Cannata describes as “radical empathy.”
That concept is perhaps best represented by the band’s current single, “Different Kind of Love.” (listen above)
“The record is really about radical empathy,” Cannata said. “It’s about having hope for a brighter future during a difficult time.”
For Cannata and his bandmates, the message emerged naturally as they reflected on modern life and the challenges of staying connected in a world dominated by technology and constant information.
“We realized what we needed from one another was to get back to our humanity,” he said. “To enjoy being creative together. To build community. To be human beings again.”
Cannata believes many people are feeling the same desire.
“There’s this feeling of wanting to get off our phones and be present,” he said. “As the kids say now, wanting to go touch grass.”
The band’s emphasis on optimism and empathy has long been part of Young the Giant’s identity, but Cannata says those themes feel particularly relevant today.
“We’ve always wanted our music to have intention behind it,” he said. “To have empathy and optimism because we’re all feeling so much intensity from the outside world.”
The new songs were written during just a handful of concentrated writing retreats and recorded in roughly two weeks with producer Brendan O’Brien, making it one of the quickest creative cycles the band has experienced.
“We really wanted to avoid overproducing or overbaking ideas,” Cannata said.
That spontaneity and sense of connection is something fans can expect to hear when Young the Giant arrives at Ascend Amphitheater later this month.
For longtime fans, it will be a chance to reconnect with a band that has evolved significantly since their early festival appearances. For newer listeners, it may serve as an introduction to a group finding renewed purpose in a rapidly changing world.
And if Cannata has his way, audiences will leave with a little more empathy—and maybe a reminder to put their phones down once in a while.
Young the Giant performs this Saturday, June 27 at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville. Be there! We will be.
–Jerry Holthouse
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