Sad Lovers & Giants

Sad Lovers and Giants emerged as a British post-punk outfit drawing from psychedelia and folk traditions. Their recordings maintain a clear sonic profile without excessive polish, merging ringing guitar lines, spacious keyboard textures, driving percussion, and sharp-edged words. Although leaning into melancholic tones, the sound sidesteps the exaggerated dramatics common among more flamboyant acts in the 1980s goth and new wave scenes. Often compared to the Chameleons and the Cure’s initial recordings, the group cultivated a devoted niche audience that sometimes described them as an underappreciated discovery. Their earliest and strongest-selling release, Epic Garden Music from 1982, reached the U.K. independent charts. Multiple breakups and reunions followed, yet they issued occasional studio albums while preserving their signature approach, as heard on the 2018 effort Mission Creep.

The band originated in Watford, England during 1980 with an initial lineup of vocalist Garçe Allard, bassist Cliff Silver, guitarist Tristan Garel-Funk, drummer Nigel Pollard, and keyboardist/saxophonist David Wood. Their introduction came via two 1981 7-inch releases on Last Movement—the Clé EP and the single “Colourless Dream”—that combined tension with lightness. A session for BBC DJ John Peel preceded their signing to Midnight Music, which put out Epic Garden Music along with the standalone single “Lost in a Moment” in 1982. Shortly after the album’s arrival they supported the Sound at a prominent London venue; when Feeding the Flame arrived the following year the band toured Germany and the Netherlands, building a notable following in both territories. Internal strains prompted a split, after which Garel-Funk and Pollard launched the more aggressive Snake Corps. Midnight Music compiled previously unheard material and demos as In the Breeze in 1984, while a 1983 Dutch radio session for VPRO surfaced as Total Sound in 1986.

Allard and Pollard assembled a fresh Sad Lovers and Giants configuration that same year, adding guitarist Tony McGuinness, keyboardist Juliet Sainsbury, and bassist Ian Gibson. The Mirror Test arrived in 1987 and the ensemble expanded its European audience through further touring. A compilation titled Les Années Vertes appeared in 1988. Silver reclaimed the bass role, leading to Headland in 1990 and Treehouse Poetry in 1991. After Midnight Music ceased operations the group dissolved once more, though they reunited sporadically for performances, including support slots for fellow post-punk act And Also the Trees. Cherry Red released the retrospective E-Mail from Eternity in 1996 once it had secured the Midnight Music catalog. Voight-Kampff Records issued the 1988 live recording La Dolca Vita in 1999 and combined Headland with Treehouse Poetry on one disc in 2001. Another reformation occurred in 2002, yielding Melting in the Fullness of Time on Voight-Kampff. Following select Italian dates the band paused again, allowing McGuinness to focus on his progressive trance project Above & Beyond and its Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep imprints.

When Cherry Red reissued the debut pair of albums in 2009, the lineup of Allard, Pollard, McGuinness, and Gibson played shows in Italy and Greece. Keyboardist Will Hicks joined later that year. Additional European concerts took place in 2010 alongside a reissue of The Mirror Test and the new single “Himalaya.” Further U.K. and European performances ensued as new material began to take shape. Allard’s book Things We Never Did: The Story of Sad Lovers & Giants appeared in 2014. Dark Entries issued the early-singles compilation Lost in a Sea Full of Sighs in March 2016, coinciding with the band’s first American tour. A year later Cherry Red collected the complete recorded works up to that point in the five-CD box set Where the Light Shines Through. Mission Creep, the seventh studio album, emerged in 2018, followed by the 2020 song “Asylum Town.”