GAZEL – ALBUM REVIEW

Gazel – Gazel’s Book of Souls 
Gazel's Book of Souls

Release Date: Out Now

It’s coming towards the end of the year and so thoughts are turning naturally towards awards and lists, so it is a fabulous problem to have the debut album from Gazel sweep in at the last minute. ‘Gazel’s Book of Souls’ is an incredibly impressive LP by anyone’s standards but as a debut release it is phenomenal, so I need to make sure you all understand that. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

The first of the album’s thirteen tracks is ‘The Forest’, a track that stutters and clatters into life and find’s its rhythm, introducing the eclecticism, uniqueness and sheer creativity that makes this album so thoroughly absorbing. However, it isn’t until the dramatic ‘Mina’s Hymn’ that we get to first hear the voice of Gazel unfurling with cinematic intimacy atop a sinister piano melody and scattered beats before a heavy, EDM inspired synth stab moves this into a blurred area between a range of genres. One of my favourite tracs on the album, ‘Walk On Land’, is up next with its message of being content with what you have and infectious steel drum melody; “If I could be a bird in the sky I wouldn’t fly, I’d want to swim in the sea like a fish, I’d have only one wish, to walk on the land like the woman I am” sings Gazel and although the lyrics might feel almost childlike there is real pathos in here.

The multi-instrumentation and inventiveness of this album continues on ‘Book of Souls’ which features eerie percussive elements building up alongside a dark and foreboding melody for Gazel to chant her witchy incantation across like a sorceress from a time long forgotten. The sub-two minute acoustic strum of ‘Half Humming’ is a rare and intimate moment of calm amidst this creative storm followed by ‘Cloutpatterns’, a sexy and sultry tune that swaggers in to life and shows Gazel’s ability to pull of a style that is somewhere between Kate Tempest and Massive Attack in vibe. On ‘The Door’, our heroine goes for something more akin to Sia or Regina Spektor as a forlorn piano melody is matched by Gazel’s doleful voice and swelling strings to create something of unutterable beauty and sadness.

There’s a shift back to the Gazel’s electro tendencies on ‘Rain is Coming’ which undulates and pulses like a Clean Bandit track full of sensuality and poise. There then follows another short interlude, ‘The Magic Interval’, which furthers Gazel’s credentials as a potential film score composer with skittish, scattered strings whirling around like a mind-lost protagonist ripping up everything that was once dear to them. Recent single ‘You’re Not Funny’ punctures the mood with Eels-esque obliqueness before ‘Ximena’ wonderfully demonstrates Gazel’s Turkish roots with a whirlwind of instrumentation and beats creating an atmosphere that is somewhere between party and panic.

There is a short reprise of ‘Book of Souls’ before the album closes out with mercurial track ‘The Night Concierge’, a song of such class, permanence and style that it would not be out of place on the soundtrack to the next series of Killing Eve. This is an outstanding album full of creativity, boldness and emotion and I can’t fault it, especially when you take in to account the fact that this is a debut. In fact, the only concern I have is that Gazel has set the bar incredibly high for herself – like taking your new partner to the Ritz for your first date. Where do you go from there? I don’t dare to imagine….

More information: https://www.facebook.com/thisisgazel/

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