Southampton, UK-based indie lo-fi artist Mike Gale will release his brand-new album, Twin Spirit, on June 18 via Baboo Records.
Speaking about the album, Gale shares, “‘Twin Spirit’ is my 9th solo release. I wanted to find a new way of writing that excited me again so decided to work with just samples. I played bass on one song but apart from that everything else is a sample I found and manipulated to fit the songs. I found that this offered me a huge amount of freedom to do different styles and sing in different ways. I wasn’t bound by my limitations as a fairly poor musician. It was such a liberating experience for me.”
A productive recluse, Gale formerly fronted Black Nielson and Co-pilgrim, Gale has been described as the UK’s version of Robert Pollard and R. Stevie Moore, the “godfather of home recording.”
Encompassing 10-tracks, Twin Spirit starts off with “Don’t Mind the Weather,” opening on a vaudeville-flavored piano topped by Gale’s filtered, Beatles-like vocals. Highlights include “Betterriver,” rolling out on shimmering colors, wavering and shifting on creamy textures akin to avant-garde jazz blended with alt-pop sparkles. The fluctuating flow of the harmonics is simultaneously alluring and innovative.
“Welcome to Amsterdam” features a psychedelic intro segueing into a Ramada Inn-laced lounge piano, followed by shifting to a boogie-woogie-lite melody capped by scatting-like vocals. “Another Trick of the Light” travels on an upbeat rhythm supporting percolating, chiming shimmers of dream-pop hues. Gale’s rich, mellow voice infuses the lyrics with cashmere surfaces.
“The Lanes of San Luis” offers a light, sensuous Latin melody riding clicking percussion. Whereas “I’ve Got a Soul for the Mind” undulates on soft sprays of yacht-pop accompanied by a fat, throbbing bassline and trembling flutes. Dreamy and tinted with laid-back timbres, Gales tones glide lusciously overhead.
“Don’t Mind the Devil” travels on gossamer, translucent coloration, conjuring up classical aromas. As the melody floats on luminous tendrils, Gale’s voice delivers the lyrics with unconcerned aplomb.
Uniquely original and unprecedented, Twin Spirit dishes out singularly imaginative melodies, at once captivating and wonderfully wrought. Twin Spirit is unlike anything you’ve heard before, yet sonically daring and oh so charming and entertaining.
