Young the Giant, Fitz and the Tantrums, Alice Merton

Young the Giant and Fitz and the Tantrums will perform with Alice Merton at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, in the Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort, Reno. Tickets are $37, $42 and $47, plus fees and taxes, at apeconcerts.com. LINK

Young the Giant

The fourth album from Young the Giant, ​”Mirror Master”​ is a layered meditation on identity in modern life, an emotionally charged look at the dangers of illusion and possibilities of freedom. “Within one single day, we’re all so many different people,” says Gadhia, lead vocalist for the L.A.-based band. “Especially with the use of social media, we’re not just living in the now—we’re living on several different timelines simultaneously. At a time when everyone wants to put each other in a box—culturally, socially, musically—we wanted to show that there are a multitude of reflections inside everything. We don’t have to be a certain thing; we can contradict ourselves and show all these different sides of who we are.”

“Mirror Master” ​arrives as a continuation of Young the Giant’s “​Home of the Strange​,” a 2016 album that found the band members shedding light on their shared experience as immigrants or first-generation Americans. But in a departure from the externally focused ​Home of the Strange—​ an album written entirely before Donald Trump emerged as a presidential candidate—​Mirror Master​ shifts perspective and joins in the post-election reckoning faced by so many Americans. With the influx of social media use and public attention to cultural issues in the country, people have been forced to see how their actions, both good and bad, are reflected. “This record takes a lot of the concepts we explored on the last album but plunges them inward,” notes Gadhia. “It’s about being okay with yourself, especially in light of what’s happened in the world in the last two years, and realizing that there’s something beyond that duality of right and left, black and white. The space in-between is infinite.”

Fitz and the Tantrums

Having made a splash with the soulful R&B-revival sound of their debut album, 2010’s “Pickin’ Up The Pieces” (released on Dangerbird Records), the band offered up a New Wave-influenced dance-pop sound with its Elektra Records debut, 2013’s Heatseekers No. 1 “More Than Just A Dream,” which featured the gold-certified and No. 1 Alternative Radio singles “The Walker” and “Out of My League.” The album’s success sent Fitz and the Tantrums on a two-year touring odyssey, which enabled the Los Angeles-based sextet — known for its explosive, no-holds barred live shows — to cement themselves as one of the country’s hottest live acts.

“We felt incredibly validated by the reception to “More Than Just A Dream,” says the band’s co-vocalist Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick. “We knew we could pull from many different styles and create a truly hybrid form of music, and do it in a way that felt authentic. At that point, we felt even more empowered to do whatever we wanted creatively.”

Alice Merton

Your first single – the only song you’ve ever released – goes to No. 1 and explodes into an international smash; what do you do next? Well for one thing, you release more songs, but for Alice Merton, the breakout success of “No Roots” ignited a madcap run of transcontinental gigs, interviews, and television performances; all the while, she was writing and recording songs towards her debut album whenever she got a sliver of free time. Alas, the payoff is finally here: the debut album “MINT” is due Jan. 18 via Paper Plane Records International. For Alice Merton, the whirlwind story is in the songs.

“Some talk about growing up and moving around a lot,” the English-German artist observes, “But a lot of others discuss the struggles we’ve had with starting a label, the feeling of trying to prove yourself to everyone.” After studying at University of Popular Music and Music Business, Alice Merton founded Paper Plane Records Int. with her manager Paul Grauwinkel, while crafting songs alongside co-writer and producer Nicolas Rebscher. Label reps scoffed at “No Roots” – It’s a minute too long — ake the guitars out, they said. But by the time it topped Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart in the U.S., hit the Top 10 in further nine countries, streamed more the 300 million times and sold over 1 million units, which ultimately helped her go platinum in seven countries, naysayers turned to supporters.