music competition in Emerald City, Naked Giants became a member of New West Records and started work on their debut studio album.

Their debut album, SLUFF was produced by Steve Fisk, who had previously worked with Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Car Seat Headrest.

"[7] Despite interpretations that SLUFF stands for South Lake Union Fuck Faces, Naked Giants state that is only one view.

The album dabbles with blues on the song "Slow Dance II", and in themes of duality and gender identity on the closer track "Shredded Again.

"[15] On 11 June 2020, Naked Giants released their lead single from their second studio album The Shadow produced by Chris Funk, with a socially distanced music video due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The song was described by the band as representing the "dance-the-stress-away attitude we’ve had since the band was formed" and that the song's lyrics are meant to represent the "big unanswered questions in our lives, like the mechanisms of privilege and oppression or the capitalist oxymoron of individualism and assimilation, and we’re pairing it all with a danceable backbeat to tell people it’s ok to get up off the couch and do something about it."

They also describe The Shadow as "a much more honest album than SLUFF" about the "part of yourself that’s hard to confront and understand" and "facing that darkness and having the strength to bring it into the light.

We took a lot of inspiration from bands like Devo, The Cure, U2, Talking Heads, My Bloody Valentine, and The Fall, as well as our usual sources like Neil Young, Black Sabbath, and all that classic stuff."

Aiello also said that Chris Funk was an important part of the creative process, suggesting taking away Henry's cymbals on some songs.

[17] In an interview with American Songwriter upon releasing their single The Shadow, the members stated they spent more of their time during the pandemic teaching children music.

Maeri Ferguson of No Depression notes that Turns Blue "is a standout, unexpectedly knocking the wind out of you with its silken vocals and air of solitude that feels fitting for a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation," and that the trio "use their harmonies strategically, sometimes mono and hypnotic to work you into a trance, other times primal and deeply felt, like a long-awaited release of tension.