FEATURE: Spotlight: Gabriels — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Gabriels

___________

THIS is a band…

that I am fairly new to. The incredible Gabriels are a stunning force who have won the support of, among others, Elton John! I love their music and was eager to feature them in Spotlight. I am going to bring a review in for their incredible E.P., Love and Hate in a Different Time, very soon. Before that, The Guardian spotlighted them back last year:

“If Elton John is calling something “one of the most seminal records I’ve heard in the past 10 years”, odds are you should be paying attention. The song in question was Love and Hate in a Different Time, taken from a debut EP of the same name – a recent release from the LA-based group Gabriels.

The trio comprises gospel singer and choir director Jacob Lusk (possibly you’ll remember his astounding, tender voice from American Idol in 2011) alongside producers Ryan Hope and Ari Balouzian. The story goes that, back in 2016, Hope and Balouzian had been working on a film together (director and soundtrack respectively), and in searching for a choir for the project they came across Lusk. Via a few years of makeshift recordings in a rental property in LA, and experimenting with a range of sonics, they began to release music.

Together, they make warming songs that vibrate with feeling, careening between decades. They channel everything from Flamingos-era doo-wop to yearning jazz; glossy, swooning soul, classic R&B, vibrant gospel choirs with flourishes of airy electronics. One of their music videos features footage of Lusk singing Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit through a megaphone at a Black Lives Matter protest last year, anchoring their sound in the searing present.

In many ways, Gabriels’ sound is one that runs the gamut of Black American music history, aching with love and loss, all while swelling with hope”.

If you have not discovered Gabriels, then go and check their music out (links are at the bottom of this feature). They are a band who are so different to anything out there! I feel that we will hear a lot more from them – or let’s hope that we do! NME interviewed the band recently. They were asked why it took five years from their first meeting to the release their debut E.P.:

“The past, present and future are in lockstep in the music of Gabriels. The LA-based trio, who released their debut EP ‘Love and Hate in a Different Time’ in June, channel the uncompromising authenticity of gospel and 60’s R&B, but present it in a thrilling, contemporary context with tightly arranged production and sharp electronic flourishes. In a fast, oversaturated musical landscape, Gabriels demand that you drop everything and listen closely.

Comprising Sunderland-born producer Ryan Hope (the band is named after St. Gabriels Avenue, the street on which Hope grew up), Calfiornian producer and classically trained musician Ari Balouzian, and the stunning gospel vocals of Compton’s Jacob Lusk, they have quickly amassed an arsenal of famous fans, including Annie Mac, Gilles Peterson and Elton John, who described the debut EP’s title track as, “one of the most seminal records I’ve heard in the last ten years”. In other words, time is running out to be ahead of the game on this band.

As they prepare to release their second EP, ‘Blame’, on November 5, NME spoke to the band about how the project came to be, their upcoming run of live shows, and the spontaneous moment when Lusk electrified a Black Lives Matter march with an impromptu version of Billie Holliday’s ‘Strange Fruit’.

Ryan, it doesn’t take a British person to notice that you have a very different accent to the other two members of Gabriels. What took you from Sunderland to California?

Ryan: “I left Sunderland at 18 when I went to study Art at Leeds University. I met a woman in a bar that I was working in, and her daughter worked in the music video department at Ministry of Sound. I wrote a message on the back of a receipt to her daughter asking if I could do work experience – I was just trying to make shit happen. She rang me up and said she needed someone to help put a Christmas party together – and I was already on the train when she said it.

“At that Christmas party, I met a producer who asked me to work on Massive Attack’s ‘False Flags’ video, and I went into a directing career. I moved over [to California] ten years ago. I was making techno at the time. In the first week, I was directing a video for Pharrell and 2 Chainz, and a researcher played me a short film. The music was amazing and it was by Ari – and we’ve been working on tunes together ever since. Ari and I were scoring a commercial one day when Jacob came in for an audition and blew me away. I heavily stalked him for a bit.”

Jacob: “Literally! I didn’t even want to do the commercial, and I was being very difficult. A couple days later, they showed up at my church and set up a remote studio in the choir room and we just clicked – we’re very different, but we have these similarities with each other. We’re literally the best of friends, it’s the biggest blessing in my life.”

Five years passed between that first meeting and the release of your first EP. Why was it important for you to take your time?

Ryan: “A big part of what we’re doing is to go back to that era of, ‘Let’s wait until the work is really good before we put anything out, and make sure it’s really good’. We’ve tried to do that with our videos and with everything we’ve done, to keep that integrity and quality to it, and I think people have noticed and appreciated it.”

Did you imagine you would end up making music when you were growing up?

Jacob: “I grew up in a very religious home where I was not allowed to listen to the radio. Nat ‘King’ Cole I knew of, but I didn’t know Motown music. I knew Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston because they did a little gospel, but that was all. So yeah, it was a dream I had, but I threw it away because I didn’t look at it as a possibility.

“And now, looking back, I know I always wanted to do something like this, but I didn’t know how. It’s amazing how you drop little seeds and they can turn into this. Some of our first gigs were on Jools Holland and Jimmy Kimmel – like, what the fuck?

Ari: “And that’s obviously partly to do with the pandemic, but yeah, it’s just weird. We haven’t even been able to play a full set yet.”

The response for your debut EP was so strong, and people are clearly connecting to the depth of feeling in your music. Could that suggest that those things are in short supply in music elsewhere at the moment?

Ryan: “I think it depends on where you get your music from. In general, it’s out there. But in short supply? I could see why somebody would think that, and I do agree.”

Ari: “It’s harder to get that good stuff out; it’s not fed to the public very much. Unless there’s some tower structure attached to it, it doesn’t seem like it has value. But there are a lot of really interesting musicians who are around that we love and are inspiring, but they are different to what the mainstream language of music is now”.

One of the best E.P.s came in the form of Love and Hate in a Different Time. It is a work that I have been listening to since it came out. I am amazed every time I visit it. Such a beautiful, powerful and original collection of songs. It is the vocal work of the group that I especially adore. Such a sensational sound! This review of Love and Hate in a Different Time highlights how, despite the fact Gabriels have been working on it for a while, it sounds authentic and pure:

“Gabriels is a music project from Los Angeles that consists of singer Jacob Luk, who has been working for

Diana Ross or Beck sang, and producers Ari Balouzian and Ryan Hope consists. With their EP Love and Hate in a Different Time they made big waves in the streaming market despite releasing the EP without a label. There was a reason for this, because Gabriel’s music emanates a mysterious atmosphere that makes narrow genre descriptions impossible. Roughly you could say that the sound of the EP is influenced by soul, funk and gospel. However, that does not explain the futuristic interludes, effects and the partly experimental production that take the music into new dimensions.

The first song The blind is characterized by heavy piano chords, which are carried with accentuated drums and claps. Most important, however, is the vocal performance of Luk, who sings emotionally about lies and hiding. The arrangement with later resurgent strings and a choir make the piece opulent. The atmospheric production gives the feeling that a lot of detail has been worked on here. In the few descriptions of the project you can read that the trio has been working on their album for four years. This long time is audible: Everything is carefully placed and optimized without losing its authenticity. Sincere, modern soul with a mysterious twist.

The heart and title track of the EP is reminiscent of “I heard it through the Grapevine” in the verse, but develops completely differently in the chorus. Here, too, it’s the details, like the piano intro that continues with the lively beat that sets in, an effect-laden futuristic voice after the chorus or an experimental synth solo that squeaks and beeps. Gabriels fascinates precisely because of these elements – it always remains open what comes next and the mysterious aura of the music has a hypnotic effect. You just can’t listen away”.

Do go and follow the band now. I think that Gabriels are primed for very special things. It only takes a minute or so listening to their music before you are transfixed and seduced. Such is their talent and power. Make sure you do not miss out on…