About this item

Gabi and her band toured with The Libertines and Edwyn Collins in 2019, and were all set for a year of touring when the pandemic hit in 2020. Retreating into her songwriting, Gabi started sketching out songs about escape and exploring vulnerability. Demoing the arrangements at home then honing the songs with her band The Illuminations as soon as rehearsal studios opened up, they created an explosive album of indie pop bangers that have lyrical and musical depth. As the opening song ‘Bad Boy Bird’ announces “I am no human, I am the promise of dynamite”, Gabi and her band summon up a volcanic concoction of sounds, from the poetic punk sensibilities of Ezra Furman and Patti Smith, the soaring alt pop of The Voidz and The Flaming Lips, to Motown inspired soul stompers, the record conjures up a range of atmospheres to occupy the listeners mind over many, many replays, as they fall deeper into the universe that is Cockerel. Connecting again with multi-instrumentalist and producer Sean Read (Beth Orton, Edwyn Collins, The Pretenders) at his Famous Times Studio Gabi set to work bringing their songs to life on record. Upcoming single ‘Subterranean Stars’, one of the most representative songs on the album, catchy guitar licks flutter around trippy lyrical musings, brass refrains and a soaring string arrangement played by Basia Bartz. Following this slice of shimmering pop is ‘Genet’s Journey.

TRACK LISTING

1 Cockerel
2 Bad Boy Bird
3 Subterranean Stars
4 Genet’s Journey
5 Never Never
6 Your Blues
7 I Can’t Win
8 Habit Of Sadness
9 Sea Organ
10 Angel Of Third Avenue
11 Our Dying World