Gabriel's Dawn - Gabriel's Dawn

Carrying the baton for jangly guitar pop! Musical sunshine from the Midlands.

I've recently had my faith restored in jangly guitar pop and it's all thanks to Gabriel's Dawn, a band who hail not from the sunny enclaves of Laurel Canyon, but from the mean streets of Leicester and Newcastle under Lyme. The band cite their influences as The Byrds, Love, Buffalo Springfield, through to '80s/'90s indie bands such as Teenage Fanclub, The La's, and on into the 21st century with El Goodo, The Stands and The Coral. It's a thread that pretty much mirrors a large part of my own record and CD collection!

What all these bands and scenes have in common is guitar-based music that's big on melody, literate, and with a non-macho mindset (not "fey" as claimed by detractors). There's also a love for 12-string guitar chime, plenty of arpeggiated chords, and beautiful vocal harmonies. In short it's a kind of musical sunshine. As befitting music that has its roots in '60s folk rock and '70s country rock, the lyrics are as important as the backing, and so it is on Gabriel's Dawn's eponymous debut album.

There's a transatlantic push and pull at play - while wide-eyed wonder of Americana permeates songs such as 'Loose Canyon', it's offset with a defiantly British cynicism and humour elsewhere, most notably via the lyrics of 'Real Love'. Who could fail to fall for a song that references underage smoking, Bargain Booze, staying in bed, and the debris of countless takeaway meals. And it does so while sounding like a lost Stone Roses B-Side - scuzzed-up British bohemia at its finest. Songs such as 'We' and 'I Don't Believe (in The Summer of Love)' battle it out for the strongest earworm award. Which one wins? Well have a listen and decide for yourself. Then again there's the less immediate slow burners such as album closer 'Gentle Chimes', a Byrds-eque take on the creative process which yields more with each repeated listen.

World domination may elude Gabriel's Dawn but I guess that was never the band's intention anyway. One thing I know for sure is that I've feel in a better mood after each listen to this accomplished debut. What more could you want than that!

Available on limited edition vinyl and CD via the band's Bandcamp page from May 30th, and digitally via all the usual platforms from June 27th.

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Interview with Me And The Bees

(This feature first appeared in issue #66 of Shindig! magazine. For the full unpublished interview click over the jump at the bottom of the post.)

Barcelona's lo-fi indie pop trio get set to spread the goodness. Duncan Fletcher picks up the positive vibes.

Most bands form not for money, fame or a blue tick, but for the pure reward of making music with friends. So it is with Me and The Bees. Bassist Esther Margarit, drummer Verónica Alonso and guitarist Carlos Leoz (all three share vocals) are set to release Menos Mal, their third LP since starting life as a duo in the MySpace era. Verónica explains - “Esther started the band with Eli Molina. Almost all the first record's songs were made in that time, but before recording I got asked to play a special concert. After that I was in the band. Two gigs later Carlos played with us and we never let him go. By the second album Eli left for her own project (Fighter Pillow - really good!) but we never let her go completely, she normally comes in the studio to make a collaboration or two. MATB is about friendships, how life makes them stronger by understanding, help and of course some small passionate fights along the way.”

Inspired by '60s girl pop and seminal '90s guitar bands Pavement, Guided By Voices and Teenage Fanclub, the band named themselves after a song by cuddlecore duo The Softies. Says Esther - “A friend recommended K Records, I fell in love with many bands on the label, one being The Softies.”

The band spent five days recording Menos Mal at Cal Pau Recordings studio, in its idyllic rural setting outside Barcelona. “Being there was magic” says Verónica, “you woke up and could see horses through your bedroom window.” “Almost paradise” agrees Esther. Spain's strength in nurturing indie-pop is not only due to weather and scenery as Carlos explains - “There's always been good independent bands to learn from... from your own city you could share feelings and fun with. Also many foreign bands tour here... learning how to do things independently of the commercial circuit. Hopefully this will continue till the end of time.”

Menos Mal is out now on La Castanya.



(Click over the jump for the full interview)

Jessica & The Fletchers – Marble Fountain b/w Crystal Tears (Ltd. 7”)

Barcelona Indie-Pop outfit return with limited edition 7”!

Listening to Jessica & The Fletchers' latest 7” re-awakened something of my fading youth. Too young for punk or post-punk, and jaded by the time Brit-pop took over the charts, my own year zero was back in 1986. Or C86 if you prefer. A time when the likes of Talulah Gosh, The Shop Assistants and The Bodines were putting out great records, doing grass roots gigs and getting recognition in the weeklies. It was an all-too brief flowering but regained important ground from '80s perfectionists and pony-tailed professionals. More importantly it gave females an equal footing in making music, something which hadn't really happened since the very early days of punk (a move sadly hi-jacked by punk's second wave and the onset of Oi).

Jessica & The Fletchers describe themselves as a noise-pop quartet and that's pretty much on the mark; bittersweet lyrics are sweetly sung and backed up by fuzzy guitars. One part flowers, one part razorblades. With a sound that's deliberately amateurish, in the purest and best sense of the word, the lyrics are winsome with themes of young and innocent love, somehow apart from the modern world but also very much needed. The songs are short, with no needless solos, and all about the melody. Perfect fayre to be pressed onto their natural home of 7” plastic.

For fans of Sarah Records, Talulah Gosh, Jesus & Mary Chain and fans of spirited and catchy pure-pop in general. Limited to 300 copies, this 7” comes housed in a Risograph fold-over sleeve with a hand-numbered postcard fetauring the lyrics to both songs.

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Elefant Records - Latest 7" singles

Elefant Records of Madrid have long been purveyors of fine indie-pop, one of a sadly dying breed of labels that still holds dear to its heart the notion of independence, bespoke vinyl releases and a love of music over commerce. As well as releasing great albums by the likes of Helen Love, Juniper Moon, The School, and the recently reformed Primitives, the label are also responsible for putting out desirable slices of 7" vinyl. Maybe not so good for the environment we're told, but when they're lovely coloured vinyl they sure as hell look nice rotating on your Dansette! 

With that in mind let's cast our eyes and ears over the label's latest three 7" EPs. Click over the jump to read about singles by YouDoMeToo, Wild Balbina and El Palacio De Linares. There's also videos from all three bands so go on, hit the jump!