Gillian Rae Perry has released her fourth album in 2 years. Let that sink in. A proactive musician and an avid dream chaser, her songs draw from conceptual themes to a restructuring of the picturesque world. Her latest album is an effort in a new direction, her songs being chaotic fragments of reality to a fever dream read by an animal. This is a wide, interesting spectrum. Let’s dive into Gilligil.
Frequencies might be lost between you and Gillian Rae Perry. Her first single, A Day, is a lost transmission of sorts. Her vocals are accompanied only by a piano, and silence/ breaks do more work than the song itself. There are phases of the song for those who want to understand it, like segments of a day. A lot to unpack for the opening track.
Ambient/nature sounds have a major role to play in the sound. We hear Gillian chirping merrily with a bird, the keys change tone for this song. Her melodic, fragile voice has the elastic, malleable nature of glass being blown into shape. There is wonder in it, yet you watch at this amazement from a distance. Uniformly-like a well tarred highway, her song maintains a flow till the end.
Dreaming in daylight
Happening Again is a poetic incision into a cyclic loss of time. There is a lingering element of psychedelia in this song. With minimal spatial orchestration, Gillian’s voice is the highlight and spotlight Broadway character. Each act is a meditation of behaviour, alone and in company of her imagination. Need Me brings a joyful haunting to play. Another rumination in rhythm, her art lies in channelling her experience through incident and consequently her music.
There are many ways this style can be misinterpreted. The themes lie in ghost towns of notes and stretched out synth scapes. There are moments in and out of focus, and her lyrical cairns remaining the constants. Therapist is her next track, a reflective song, with the lyrics almost following a train of thought. It’s evident these songs symbolize invasive moments in escapism, and Gillian does a fantastic job in parcelling thoughts track by track.
Any Sort of Way is a ballad style single, with beautiful harmonics creating a sphere of sound. The minimal aspect works especially well for this progression and lyric collection. Talk about Bo Burnham without the comedic intention or irony. There is a truthfulness in the premise created, and the work put in to keep it the truest to the feeling.
Magic in mininmalism
Like This has a mystical background sound coming together, while strings keep the mystery far in the background. There is a churning, impending sense of prudence building with these tracks-yet they build to a very real aspect. This truly acoustic album continues, with Dear Friend. The xylophone tone and arpeggiated piano makes for a very simple and memorable premise.
A Reminder brings the accents of ambient sound back. It is a literal reminder, talking in first person to the listener. The mould of the track is a personal echo chamber. It speaks from the heart, to a person in doubt. The simplicity of words and their complex reactions. There are lessons to be learnt from Gillian Rae Perry and her songwriting charm. The closing track is designed to do just that. Another simple ballad where the essence is in creating dense lyricism that matters. The impact of this album is truly groundbreaking, if it heard with the right state of mind.
Gillian Rae Perry has created a mirror of truths and experiences with her album Gilligil. The songs are reminders, tales and deeper narratives crafting the formwork for what has been created. Without a shred of doubt, Gillian Rae at her best.
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Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
