Songs of the year, number 6: Gazel - Unknowable

The first release for London based, British born Turkish artist Gazel since 2019's audacious (and criminally under reviewed) debut album Gazel's Book Of Souls, 'Unknowable' marks a tentative return for an artist who should have been capitalising on the artistry of her debut as 2020 began but who was, instead, stuck at home like the rest of us.

Gazel Algan played all the instruments, did all the vocals, designed the artwork and produced 'Unknowable' and the result is a worthy successor to Book Of Souls. It is brooding and magnificent, atmospheric and all encompassing, epic and majestic. It is to be hoped that there will be more releases soon.

Gazel - Unknowable

Gazel's debut album, Gazel's Book Of Souls, was released in late 2019. It came second only to the debut Self Esteem album in my Albums of the year list for 2019 and it was cruelly passed over for the Mercury Music prize shortlist in 2020. I mean, it's very possible that - being such a small release - neither artist nor label could afford the entry fee for the Mercury but, still, it was cruelly unacknowledged in it's brilliance, audacity, ambition of scale and sheer talent.

It's been a long wait for new material but, at last, Gazel has emerged from what she describes as a "Lengthy hibernation" and there is to be a new EP, Dark Earth, from which 'Unknowable' is the first track to be released. 'Unknowable' is based on "the folk song Nem Kaldi, a Turkish lament" and Gazel "played/programmed and recorded all the instruments on it"

You get the impression that the pandemic has been hard for her but, following a gig in Hackney on the 22nd June, she is definitely back.

Gazel - Pointing At The Moon (Acoustic) Live at Hackney Road Studios

This is Gazel performing an acoustic version of album track 'Pointing At The Moon' last year in Hackney. I can't actually find a full live set by her, as such, online, but I did find that she's recently taken part in the Camden Live Lockdown stream. It went out in April, but you can watch it here. Gazel is the first of the four acts to perform.

Fantasy Festival number 7: The lineup

Becca Mancari: Understated US folk musician Becca Mancari has just released her second album, The Greatest Part. She's also a member of the supergroup Bermuda Triangle. You can find out more about Becca here.

Lauran Hibberd: Isle of Wight 'slacker pop' star Lauran Hibberd should have been in the middle of a summer of gigs right now but, even though that's on hold, she continues to get radio support, particularly across the BBC. Good things are expected, and rightly so. You can access her Soundcloud here.

Gazel: London based composer, songwriter and producer Gazel Algan draws on her Turkish roots to create mesmerising soundscapes fuelled by dance music and traditional instrumentation. Gazel's Book Of Souls was one of the most underrated albums of 2019. You can find out more about Gazel here.

Zola Jesus: Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus, has been creating brooding, sometimes bleak, industrial soundscapes since 2009. Most recent album Okovi was a hard but necessary listen, and probably her strongest release yet. You can find out more about Zola Jesus here.

Jehnny Beth: Former Savages front woman, now rising solo star, Jehnny Beth was one of the stars of the 6Music festival just prior to the UK lockdown. Her solo album, To Love Is to Live, is out now. You can find out more here.

Sleater-Kinney: After more than twenty years (and, it's got to be said, partly due to that ten year hiatus in the middle...) Sleater-Kinney are finally being appreciated for what they always were: A thumping great rock band. You can find out more here.

Anna Calvi: Four albums in to her career (this years Hunted being a re-working of last years critically acclaimed and Mercury nominated Hunter), Anna Calvi has most definitely arrived. With a commanding stage presence, voice and excellent guitar skills, she is a woman more than ready to be given a festival headline slot. You can find out more here.

Gazel - You'll Be Mine

Taken from the Bone Key EP, this is another early Gazel track. We can hear the young songwriter flexing her creative muscles here, and the sound is much more beats and dance orientated than her more recent output. Aside from the title track, none of the tracks on Bone Key made it onto last years debut album, Gazel's Book of Souls, so Bone Key reflects a creative snapshot in time. A sort of mini album in it's own right, providing a hint as to what was to come.

Gazel - Come Alive

Released on the Bone Key EP, three years prior to the excellent Gazel's Book of Souls album of 2019, 'Come Alive' sees Gazel experimenting with form and storytelling in equal measure. The sound of an artist experimenting and discovering her voice, it was a fantastic indicator of what was to come later in the year.

Songs of the year, number 9: Gazel - Rain is Coming

Because Gazel's Book of Souls is such a strong album, it was actually quite difficult to pin it down to one song when picking tracks out for my end of year list. 'The Night Concierge' and 'Walk on Land' would be equally strong candidates for songs of the year but, in the end, the sonic complexities and shifting mood landscape of 'Rain is Coming' is what did it for me. There really is no one else like Gazel Algan, and I'm hoping 2020 will be a great year for her.

Gazel's Book of Souls

An artist and her work

When an artist tells you that their album represents:

"The first chapter in the musical story of a teenage girl who travels through the subconscious, meeting the covert spirits that govern the different areas of the human psyche."

You could be forgiven for being wary. 

As it turns out, Gazel's debut album Gazel's Book of Souls, does live up to its composer's astonishing description.  

A mixture of electronic soundscape and traditional Turkish instrumentation, the result is a beguiling, haunting feast of imagery and sound. It's rare to say that an artist is a true original, but she really is doing something different here. There are rock guitars, ritualistic dance soundscapes, and atmosphere aplenty and Gazel really has succeeded in creating an entire sonic world that the listener can fall into and inhabit. 

I missed the opportunity to see her live on her recent tour and I can see that it might take a while for such an unusual, unique artist to get the recognition she deserves, but I'm hopeful that more and more people will discover Gazel, and her unique and beautiful debut album, and give it a listen.

In addition to creating a series of beautiful, layered, carefully crafted sonic soundscapes, the videos released to promote recent singles 'You're Not Funny', 'Rain Is Coming' and 'Walk On Land' have been similarly otherworldly and gorgeous. 

The video for 'Rain is coming' (above) is perhaps the most obviously tied to the expressed journey through the psyche, and it sees Gazel observing a younger version of herself as she undertakes a quest for meaning.

'Walk On Land' meanwhile, with its summary feel and steel drums, is a glorious melange of dancing and swirling flowers and fabric that I'm hoping will lure in some of my fellow Flow's who read this blog. 

This is an album that deserves to be discovered and treasured. It has the potential to grow into a classic and should be appreciated as such.