Following the release of “The Wait” and her Christmas collaboration with Shelby Merchant last year, gilli moon has not let the pandemic get in the way of her creativity. On the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st Century, the first volume of her new double-album release “Beautiful Mess” came out and, on 19 February, Volume 2 hits platforms, stores, etc.
- Fire opens with a U2-esque reverb (like Whiteford’s opening track) before crashing into a full-on pop-anthem which you will recognise from other pop-anthems such as Lorde’s Royals or Katy Perry’s Roar or Hot and Cold, or even those popular from the Muse canon. A great way to open this set!
- Running To You continues with an R&B flavour and the catchy pop-chorus which will surely become an earworm were radio to pick this up! Another single, maybe (the first being Fire)?
- Intangible employs a 70s-synth sound to introduce and underpin a sample of what we’ve come to expect from gilli: a piano ballad sung from the heart which is eventually joined by more musicians. Just beautiful.
I love how Soundcloud runs the album-art under the song as it plays: a recent change to the software that enhances the experience! In this case, it’s like watching gilli sing and play through the song. The album isn’t up on YouTube yet but I’d reckon you could expect something through the course of these two records .. watch this space!
- Bring It is often an invitation to a challenger to give it their all. Bring it, and you’ll meet my all! This track is an inspirational pop-rock piece to encourage the listener to bring their all to the fight so they can beat what confronts them. gilli is joined by another vocalist on this one and, eventually, a full choir. Another single?
- Issues runs through all that ails gilli, to show us that she is human like the rest of us. Judge her and be judged- simples! Some synth and a nice acoustic-guitar .. was that a self-censored lyric?
- Falling (fe CaiNo) returns to the R’n’B space, as suggested by the genre’s “featuring” tag. It also meshes with her own signature sound which we have already experienced in Running with a sort-of Enya-meets-Art of Noise Moments In Love chant through the instrumental breaks and, as promised by the “featuring” tag, a rap from CaiNo during the middle-8. Were I to hear this out of context, I wouldn’t pick it as a gilli moon track is for sure!
- I is the lady at her Rhodes, slowing it down heartfully as only gilli knows, eventually joined by a bass-player and drummer
- gilli started inserting a cover-song with her “Refresh” retrospective, just as Bowie did on many, many of his albums (usually half-way through the second side). A sultry version of the InXS hit Need You Tonight started this trend for gilli which she has continued here with her version of the Rickie Lee Jones hit Chuck E’s In Love. On this cover, gilli has stayed faithful to the original either side of the middle-eight. A nice twist that makes this gilli‘s song as much as it is Rickie’s: I think there’s even a slight DJ-scratch during the close.
- I’m writing this during Sydney’s first summer heatwave for the year (temps 38-40C / 100F+ over the course of a week) and, as a compatriot, gilli knows all about the Summer Heat we experience here: I’m sure she experiences the same in LA! She certainly knows how to capture it in song! The title conveys the feeling with little doubt!
- I Can Feel has gilli coming over all Nashville with the full band, including the slide-Tele/Esquire.
- While Refresh is the title of her best-of collection from 2017, this wasn’t on that album: this new track backs it right back with nice choral overlays at the intro, a gap, and then the lady returns to her keyboard with another slow, sultry, song for the summer .
- And finally I See Your Face sees the lady return to her piano, slowly outro-ing the record with an almost Eric Carmen-esque ballad .. only almost: she eventually crescendos into her own soulfulness to the close. The End.
Once you’ve binged on volume 1, by which time 19 Feb should have rolled around, go back through her back catalogue and see how much she’s grown as an artist over the last 20 years or so. Just looking at her Wikipage shows you what she’s doing when she’s not making music under her own name! This includes film and TV scores and collabs across the pop spectrum! This is obviously how she stays in touch with what the industry is selling and what radio / TV / streaming services are favouring in this, the third decade of the third millennium and, as such, is able to produce such gems such as “Beautiful Mess”.
We don’t know what to expect from Volume 2 .. more of the same? A greater / wider selection? 19 Feb is less than a month away! Sign up to gilli’s page for access to the entire back catalogue and all future releases as well, or pre-save through your streaming platform now so you can find out sooner!
| < < A Retrospective | < The Wait | Volume 2 > |