The rise of Gabriels is not the type the 21st century music industry traditionally allows. Lead singer Jacob Lusk was a contestant on American Idol in 2011, where he finished in the top five; he was only able to do so when a judge reprieved him after being arrested for riding a train without the correct ticket. As he worked as backing singer, Lusk met film director Ryan Hope, who had moved to Los Angeles from Sunderland, and producer and composer Ari Balouzian while singing in a church choir – the trio clicked and never looked back.
Their breakthrough single, 2020’s ‘Love and Hate In A Different Time’, caught the eye of Elton John early on, who called it “one of the most seminal records I’ve heard in the past 10 years”, and Lusk nodded to his past by reframing his mugshot as an intimate portrait on cover of 2021’s ‘Bloodline’ EP. Last month, Lusk joined Elton on stage at Glastonbury for a vibrant performance of ‘Are You Ready For Love?’ at what Elton has claimed might be “his final UK show”.
This is all to say that the fact ‘Angels & Queens’, the trio’s debut album, exists at all feels like something of a miracle. But there is something wonderful and unique about the group as a whole: it’s in Lusk’s astonishing voice and range; the cinematic, ambitious production; that they’ve made a timeless, soul-infused record without straying into pastiche. There’s some magic in the alchemy of this group.
It makes for the type of record you want to pore over, to study every inch of the record’s design and liner notes to every lyric and sonic decision. That goes from the artwork of Lusk being baptised – which, as he told NME, he wanted to be both personal and open to interpretation – to the devastating ‘If Only You Knew’. The song written soon after the loss of a close friend to addiction, and told from their point-of-view: “Truth is I wouldn’t come back if I could / I couldn’t carry on being misunderstood / Clinging on to stolen moments”.
The staggered roll-out of the record, with its first part released in September 2022, has only heightened the stakes. ‘Professional’ and ‘We Will Remember’ play out like two episodes of the same prestige drama, or sides of the same argument. The former channels the haunting soundscapes of Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’, while the latter employs a modern beat as the subjects retell their side of the story: “You were so professional when you did it / Broke my heart in two and then committed”.
Elsewhere, the aforementioned ‘Love and Hate In A Different Time’ reworks its lo-fi growl into a shimmering disco stomp, and ‘Offering’ gets a full release following its teaser in a live session earlier this year.
‘Angels & Queens’ tells a compelling story, not just in the songs that have been conjured here, but that of its creators. Inspiration comes in a myriad of ways, and the talent must have the time to put these parts together and let them mature; it’s how we’ve ended up with an album as epic and impressive as this.
