New York, NY (Top40 Charts) GABI, the moniker of New York-based experimental singer and composer
Gabrielle Herbst, has released "Sleep," the latest from her upcoming album, Empty Me. Gorilla vs Bear, who premiered the song today are calling it "otherworldly... GABI's haunting operatic vocals are swathed by gorgeous instrumentation - a hypnotically twinkling piano line, dramatic harp and bass clarinet, Steve Hauschildt's starry synth, and GABI herself on drums for the first time - as her stirring refrain/mantra 'I sing to heal my head' soars in and out of the swirling production."
Of the song, GABI says "there was a period of time where I would wake up in the middle of the night and write songs. I loved how quiet it was and it felt like I was the most alone I could be. I play drums on this track and it's the first time I've ever done that. I recorded the drums in my producer's tiny bedroom. This song really came to life with Marilu Donovan on harp, Mara Mayer on bass clarinet, co-producer Eric Littmann and a synth contribution from Steve Hauschildt."
Empty Me is available for pre-order now and due out October 5th via
Double Double Whammy.
Additionally, GABI has announced a Fall tour that includes a record release show in Brooklyn, NY with Julianna Barwick and
Foxes in Fiction, plus dates with Mutual Benefit. All dates below.
TOUR DATES:
10/3 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Park Chuch Co-Op ^
11/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Resident *
11/14 - San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar *
11/16 -
Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
11/17 - San Fransisco, CA @ The Chapel *
11/19 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge *
11/20 - Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project *
11/21 - Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore *
11/30 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry *
12/1 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *
12/3 - Toronto, ON @ The Garrison *
12/4 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB *
12/5 - Boston, MA @ The Great Scott *
12/7 - Washington, DC @ DC9 *
12/8 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Park Chuch Co-Op *
^ Empty Me Record Release Show w/ Julianna Barwick &
Foxes In Fiction
* w/ Mutual Benefit
Empty Me,
Gabrielle Herbst's second album as GABI and first for
Double Double Whammy, is a celebration of discovery, collaboration and community - and a leap into bold new territory for the singer and composer.
After releasing her debut album, Sympathy, on Software in 2015 and touring North
America and Europe, Herbst found herself in an intense, transformative time. She'd often wake up in the middle of the night needing to write new songs, improvising while half-asleep at her keyboard. In the years to come, these ideas, feelings, and experiments would lead her to a new sound, to healing, and the most direct music she has ever made - including "Sleep," Empty Me's statement of purpose.
"I was not interested in virtuosity, really. I was drawn to music that had that element of necessity to it. I wanted to find that in myself and strip everything else away."
When she wasn't applying to the Yale School of Music, where she will be pursuing a Master of
Music degree in composition, writing classical pieces for the Nouveau Classical Project, or working on her newest opera, Ashes, commissioned by Roulette and the
Jerome Foundation, she was exploring her new songs in sessions with Dale Eisinger in the spring of 2017, focused primarily on piano and voice. However, when she began arranging the songs with harpist Marilu Donovan and bass clarinetist Mara Mayer, she made a major breakthrough. "It was like finding a new sound - and I got really, really into it."
Herbst and producer Eric Littmann then worked tirelessly between full-time jobs to bring the songs to life over the next seven months, constantly finding new paths along the way. She describes moments like the choral harmonies on "Let's Not Exist" as the result of being on the verge of heatstroke on a deathly hot summer day in Littmann's bedroom studio.
She details how lead single "Whole With You" changed many times before becoming what it is now: "It has an element of loss to it. A searching for something. It's about coming into yourself and fighting back for yourself. It's come from an intense, personal place, and has been transformed through collaboration. Eric and I put the love in."
It's a record of ecstatic moments brought into the world through experimentation and openness. Contributions by violist Jacob Falby, flutist
Laura Cox, percussionist Matt Evans, and synths by Steve Hauschildt aren't just frills. These parts, like multi-instrumentalist
Aaron Roche's horns on "Wild Sunflowers," are sources of power in their own right. "Everyone put their stamp on it in a really meaningful way. Everyone wanted to give to it."
Herbst sees Empty Me as a hopeful record - the sound of charting her own path, pop music on her terms, and the beginning of a new chapter in her multifaceted career.
