Jo Gabriel
Originally from her beloved New York, now Jo Gabriel lives at Starkweather
Creek, in Wisconsin, in the middle of the heart of America. In this
isolation, inspirational and where one can think about life, she writes
her songs. And there is always the dark sides of the moods, the mystical
reeling moments, that influence Jo Gabriel's retreat into solitude.
With Island she created in the single handed attempt an adjuratory charming
piano oriented album with each piano note virtually resembling a raindrop,
and each text line a memory album transforming feminine eccentricities
into music.
Her songs pulsate, brilliantly harmonized and full of rough edges,
pleasantly accompanied. She worked together with Butch Vig studio crony
Wendy Bugatti, and the sound was set, sharply and tingling so that it
resembles a tonal connectedness. And of course, performed with her long
time band member, legendary drummer phenom Linda Mackley. Island comes
purring like a kitten, lulling you on, so that you long to take a glass
of wine in a soft warm sofa. Romantic Wavepop, paired with piano - Farewells
like only Tori Amos or This Mortal Coil are capable of, give Island
the offering, the strength, to warm your soul.
Jo Gabriel had a small breakthrough when her music actually provided
the background for the MTV program Real World and Making The Band. Was
that a sign? She certainly would see it that way:" "I am fascinated
by obscure little stories about people or places. Fantastical events
or interesting mythos. How Hailey's Comet appeared both the day Mark
Twain was born and the day he died.".....
With this album, Jo Gabriel keeps her demons, who sing about her in
her songs, pushed and sometimes longingly beseech. "I dare not dwell
in the shadows for too long, lest it leave a stain on my psyche. Like
Rubyat said "I am myself Heaven and Hell", she says and we are of one
thought with her in this sentiment.
